Assessment of pro-oxidant activity of natural phenolic compounds in bio-polyesters

Abstract In this work, natural phenolic compounds, such as Vanillic Acid (VA), Ferulic Acid (FA) and Thymol (Th), at very high concentrations, have been considered as pro-oxidant agents for Polylactic acid (PLA). Specifically, thin films of neat PLA and PLA-based systems containing 2 and 3 wt% of VA, FA and Th have been produced and subjected to accelerated degradation in different environmental conditions. Preliminary characterizations, through rheological, mechanical, optical and morphological analysis, of the formulated PLA-based systems show that the VA and FA, even less the Th, are able to exert a plasticizing action during the processing and subsequently, the PLA crystallinity and rig…