Abstract
Gamma irradiation is a common process mostly used for sterilization against bacteria growth. However, when the process is applied to a material, physical and chemical changes may alter its integrity and behaviour. The aim of this study was to observe the effect of γ-irradiation on the surface chemistry of CNCs. The carbonyl content (both carboxylic acid and aldehyde functionalities) was followed to investigate the influence of the irradiation dose. Thermal stability, wettability and antioxidant properties were also measured. Conductometric titration showed that the carboxylic acid groups content (COOH) was increased from 43 mmol COOH kg−1 CNCs for native CNCs to 631 mmol COOH kg−1 CNCs when a dose of 80 kGy was applied. These changes were confirmed by FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopy. At high irradiation doses, a significant decrease of approximately 30% was observed in the cellulose degree of polymerization while the aldehyde groups content was increased to 379 mmol CHO kg−1 CNCs due to the cleavage of glycosidic linkages. These physicochemical changes led to enhanced antioxidant properties of CNCs.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Nordion Inc. for irradiation work, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for funding and FPInnovations for providing the material and their scientific support. We also would like to thank Myriam Méthot and Damien Mauran for their technical help with GPC and TGA analysis. This work was done under the framework of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on Application of Radiation Techniques in Development of Advanced Packaging Materials for Food Products, research Agreement No. 17675.
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Criado, P., Fraschini, C., Jamshidian, M. et al. Gamma-irradiation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs): investigation of physicochemical and antioxidant properties. Cellulose 24, 2111–2124 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1241-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1241-x