Modification of chitosan for construction of efficient antioxidant biodegradable macromolecular systems

Abstract

Abstract The chitosan derivatives containing antiradical fragments in the polymer side chain have been synthesized by interaction of the partially quaternized chitosan(QCH) with gallic acid (GA). The antioxidative activity of the chitosan derivatives — QCH‐GA was investigated by thiobarbituric method. Introduction of GA fragment in amount of 2. 0 mass % in the structure of QCH resulted in appearance of pronounced antioxidative activity of the polymeric system contrary to initial chitosan for which this activity was equal to zero. It was found that QCH‐GA was a markedly higher effective inhibitor in a peroxidase — catalyzed oxidation of the model amine than the low‐molecular antioxidant — GA. Targetted chitosan modification resulted in a substantial raize of the polymeric antimutagenic (at γ‐irradiation) efficiency, which for QCH‐GA was equal to 92% in comparison with the protective effect of the initial chitosan — 42% (plant test‐system, barley seeds, γ = 15 Gr).