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Safety assessment of polymeric additives for food packaging: Hydrolysis of polymeric plasticizers by digestive fluids
Author(s) -
Hamdani M.,
Thil L.,
Gans G.,
Feigenbaum A. E.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.2275
Subject(s) - plasticizer , hydrolysis , gel permeation chromatography , adipate , chemistry , fractionation , adipic acid , size exclusion chromatography , chromatography , polymer chemistry , food packaging , monomer , organic chemistry , polymer , food science , enzyme
The in vitro hydrolysis of poly(1,2‐propylene adipate) by digestive fluid liquids was studied to assess the safety of polymeric plasticizers that could migrate into food. A high extent of hydrolysis was obtained with freshly prepared intestinal fluid solutions. High performance size exclusion chromatography analysis indicated that the bulk plasticizer completely disappeared and that low molecular weight oligomers were formed within 4 h. Hydrolysis did not result in a significant conversion to the free monomers, like adipic acid, as was shown by gas‐phase chromatography. Measurements by NMR indicated that the cleavage selectively occurred at primary ester linkages. Fractionation of the hydrolysis products on silica gel gave six oligomeric fractions, which were recovered and analyzed. The absolute molecular weight of the plasticizers and the average molecular weight of the hydrolysis products were evaluated using proton NMR. Hydrolysis did not take place (<2%) under simulated gastric and saliva conditions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 956–966, 2002