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Preparation, characterization and antibacterial properties of 4-aminocinnamic acid-modified cellulose fibers

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Abstract

Cellulose materials do not possess any inherent antibacterial properties, which greatly limits their application in medical and food packaging fields. Antibacterial cellulose-based materials offer exciting properties and functionalities. However, they are normally prepared by using unstable physically absorbed or complicated chemically grafted antibacterial agents under harsh conditions. Herein, an eco-friendly and simple strategy is performed to fabricate long-term antibacterial cellulose-based materials. Initially, cellulose fibers (CFs) were modified by sodium periodate (NaIO4) generating dialdehyde cellulose fibers (DCFs). Afterward, the 4-aminocinnamic acid was chemically grafted onto the DCFs yielding antibacterial CFs through Schiff base reaction. The 4-aminocinnamic modified DCFs (C-DCFs) exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli, with inhibition ratios greater than 99.6% and 99.0%, respectively. Quite encouragingly, the C-DCFs presented long-term antibacterial effectiveness, maintaining 99% antibacterial ratio after two months of exposure to the air environment. Therefore, grafting 4-aminocinnamic acid onto the CFs endowed the CFs with robust and sustained antibacterial properties that would make the material advantageous for use in relevant applications. Our strategy is efficient, green, easy to operate both in the work-up stage and purification, in conformity to principles of green chemistry.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572020BB06) and Open Research Foundation of Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Green Materials for Light Industry (202307B01).

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2572020BB06) and Open Research Foundation of Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Green Materials for Light Industry (202307B01).

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  1. Qinghui Duan and Pengxiang Shi contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Division for Sustainable Papermaking and Advanced Materials, Key Laboratory of Biobased Materials Science and Technology (Ministry of Education), Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China

    Qinghui Duan, Pengxiang Shi, Jiaqi Huo, Mingjie Wang, Xingyu Lv, Dongmei Yang, Shujun Li & Xueren Qian

  2. Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Green Materials for Light Industry, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China

    Dongmei Yang

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  1. Qinghui Duan
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Contributions

QD: designed the study, performed the research, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. PS: conceived the study and collected the data. JH: carried out the literature search and analyzed the data. MW: carried out the supplementary experiments. XL: conceived the study and analyzed the data. DY: conceived the study, designed the study, and provided the foundation support. SL: conceived the study and collected important background information. XQ: provided assistance in data acquisition. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dongmei Yang.

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Duan, Q., Shi, P., Huo, J. et al. Preparation, characterization and antibacterial properties of 4-aminocinnamic acid-modified cellulose fibers. Cellulose 30, 10825–10839 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05563-4

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