Poly(vinyl chloride) Derived Food Packaging Applications with Antioxidative and Anticancer Properties

Novel poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) polymer derivatives based on the natural antioxidants vanillic acid, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and naringin were prepared and characterized for their chemical structures, molecular weights, thermal and mechanical properties, and antioxidant characteristics toward linseed oil. Oxidation delay times (induction periods) were prolonged from 1 to 6 days beyond the pristine PVC, with the naringin-based derivative being the most effective. Biological activities of the PVC derivatives were determined and showed the substituted PVC polymers effectively inhibited the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the MCF-7 cell line according to the following sequence: cinnamic acid > caffeic acid > vanillic acid = naringin > coumaric acid, with only a minimal effect on healthy L929 cells. These results indicate that the derivatives produced in this study have potential applications as active packaging materials for food and as antibacterial/anticancer biomaterials in areas such as tissue engineering.