New Broom Fiber (Spartium junceum L.) Derivatives: Preparation and Characterization

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2007-11, Vol.55 (23), p.9489-9495
• Main Authors: Cassano, Roberta, Trombino, Sonia, Bloise, Ermelinda, Muzzalupo, Rita, Iemma, Francesca, Chidichimo, Giuseppe, Picci, Nevio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylamides - chemistry; agriculture; Biobased Products; Biological and medical sciences; Biopolymers - chemistry; Broom fibers; cellulose; chemical reactions; composite polymers; dimethylacrylamide; fireproofing; Flame Retardants; fluorine; Fluorine - chemistry; Food industries; functionalization; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; glucose; Handling, storage, packaging, transport; organofluorine compounds; packaging; plant fibers; polymer; Polymers - chemical synthesis; Spartium - chemistry; Spartium junceum; styrene; Styrene - chemistry; trifluoroacetic acid
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf071711k

In the past decade interest in biopolymers has increased. Attempts were made to prepare new composite systems from biopolymers by binding different synthetic polymers to a biopolymer backbone. This paper reports the synthesis and characterization of derivatized broom fibers to prepare composites with either degradability or fireproofing properties. Synthetic strategies are described for the introduction of polymerizable functional groups or fluorine atoms on the glucose of cellulose chains of broom. The fibers containing polymerizable groups were copolymerized with dimethylacrylamide and styrene and, after that, investigated by optical polarizing microscopy (OPM) and scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM). The materials containing fluorine were submitted to thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for the purpose of verifying the fireproofing. Such derivatized biomaterials could be successfully used for applications in agriculture and in the packaging area.