Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization Functionalization on Polypropylene Films for Immobilizing Active Compounds

This work proposes the surface chemical modification of polypropylene films (PP) by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as the graft monomer. At a later stage, the epoxy groups of PP-g-PGMA were used for covalent binding of glucose oxidase (GOD) to obtain an active material (PP-g-PGMA-GOD) with 9.38 +/- 0.06 mg cm(-2) of enzyme bonded on the surface of PP. Preliminary microbiological studies have shown that this methodology of covalent binding of the enzyme onto the PP surface allowed its activity to be maintained. Therefore, this advantage would give to PP-g-PGMA-GOD films a potential use as an active packaging material if further specific studies on their antimicrobial properties can be verified.