Methylation of guar gum for improving mechanical and barrier properties of biodegradable packaging films

Jyoti Tripathi; Rupali Ambolikar; Sumit Gupta; Dheeraj Jain; Jitendra Bahadur; Prasad Shekhar Variyar

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-50991-7

Methylation of guar gum for improving mechanical and barrier properties of biodegradable packaging films

Sci Rep. 2019 Oct 10;9(1):14505. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-50991-7.

Authors

Jyoti Tripathi¹, Rupali Ambolikar², Sumit Gupta³, Dheeraj Jain⁴, Jitendra Bahadur⁵, Prasad Shekhar Variyar²

Affiliations

¹ Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India. jsharma@barc.gov.in.
² Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India.
³ Food Technology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India. sumitg@barc.gov.in.
⁴ Chemistry Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India.
⁵ Solid State Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India.

Abstract

Improving functional properties of biopolymers for use as environment friendly packaging is an area of current interest. Biodegradable films with improved barrier and mechanical properties were prepared from methylated guar gum. Methylation resulted in structural modification of guar gum (GG) promoting greater crystallization thereby enhancing thermal stability towards decomposition. Reduction in radius of gyration (R_g), weight average molecular weight (M_w), and an increase in polydispersity index (PDI) were also observed due to methylation. Methylated guar gum (MGG) films exhibited 40% lower water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) as compared to control purified guar gum (PGG) films. Films prepared by partial replacement of PGG with MGG (10, 25, 50, 75 and 100% w/w) showed gradual improvement in percent elongation. The study gives an insight on the role of methylation in enhancing barrier and mechanical properties of GG based biodegradable films for possible application in food packaging.