Vitamin Derivatives as Edible Functional Agents for Fibers and Polymers

Abstract

There are interested interests and demands for sustainable or environmentally friendly functional polymeric and textile products. In this presentation, developments of environmentally friendly functional materials that can meet food safety standards or can be used with close contact with mouths are discussed. Several vitamin derivatives were employed in different sample applications due to their edible nature and demonstrated photoactive functions under daylight or UVA irradiation conditions. A brief chemistry review will explain the structural features of these vitamin compounds and photoactivities, as well as reactive oxygen species generated under the light exposures, which can lead to understanding of advantages and limitations of these agents and functions in polymers. As examples, vitamin K derivatives, being naphthoquinone compounds, and vitamin B2 derivatives, such as riboflavin (RF) and riboflavin 5′-monophosphate sodium (FMN), possessing conjugated aromatic system, are two examples that meet the structural requirements and have demonstrated photoactivities. Among them, water-insoluble menadione (VK3) and water soluble menadione sodium bisulfite (MSB) demonstrated excellent light-driven biocidal properties against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and were employed in different polymer systems. Both demonstrated desired photoactivity in selected polymers and fibers, as well as some limitations. However, vitamin B2 compounds present limited stability in their photoactive functions, which are still applicable in materials under very restricted conditions. Hope the presentation is useful for applications of photoactive agents in functional materials.