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Improvement of Moisture Barrier and Tensile Properties of Pectin Films by Incorporating Terminalia catappa Linn. Leaf Wax and Xylitol

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Abstract

Terminalia catappa Linn. (Indian almond) leaf epicuticular wax was extracted for the first time and the presence of aliphatic alkane and ester chains was confirmed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. The wax crystals had tubular microstructure and displayed excellent thermal stability. Four pectin films were developed from ~ 5% w/v film forming solution by adding wax (5 & 10% w/w) and xylitol (15 & 30% w/w). The resulting films showed a twofold reduction in water vapor permeability and a five to eight orders of magnitude reduction in oxygen permeability than control pectin films. The films showed an enhanced melting point of 160 °C against 95 °C for control pectin. Water contact angle (WCA) of 67° at 40 s after sessile drop indicated significant improvement in hydrophobic properties (WCA of control pectin was 20° at 40 s). The films showed a fivefold increase in elongation at break and toughness compared to control pectin films. Therefore, the present study introduces and demonstrates that the T. catappa leaf wax can act as an efficient hydrophobic agent with some plasticizer properties. The addition of appropriate quantities of T. catappa leaf wax and xylitol (as plasticizer) could produce pectin films with enhanced barrier and tensile properties.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), Ghaziabad for their support in getting the WVTR analysis done and Dr. Anurag, NIFTEM, Sonipat, India for their support in getting the OTR analysis done. The authors, would like to acknowledge the financial support received from Shiv Nadar University. Aloke Kanjilal would especially like to acknowledge the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the financial support towards purchasing the contact angle measurement system.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Greater Noida, 201314, India

    Shumyla Mehraj & Yamini Sudha Sistla

  2. Surface Science and Tribology Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Greater Noida, 201314, India

    Mayank Garg & Harpreet Singh Grewal

  3. Department of Physics, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Greater Noida, 201314, India

    Bisweswar Santra & Aloke Kanjilal

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  1. Shumyla Mehraj
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Contributions

The idea inception, planning, analysis of results, and first draft of the manuscript were performed by YSS. SM contributed to material preparation and experiments. HSG and MG Contributed to tensile property analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis. BS and AK contributed to water contact angle analysis.

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Correspondence to Yamini Sudha Sistla.

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Mehraj, S., Sistla, Y.S., Garg, M. et al. Improvement of Moisture Barrier and Tensile Properties of Pectin Films by Incorporating Terminalia catappa Linn. Leaf Wax and Xylitol. J Polym Environ 31, 3522–3537 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-023-02805-1

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