Facilely prepared ferric-curcumin complex nanoparticles exert improved stability and photothermal enhanced antibacterial effects for food preservation

Curcumin (Cur) is a phenolic compound extracted from Curcumae Longae Rhizoma, which has been widely applied in food industry due to its wide functional features, including coloring, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. However, Cur exhibits some major limitations including low water solubility and stability during processing, which calls for convenient and straightforward protection strategy to improve its functionality. This investigation introduces a streamlined, consistently replicable one-pot method for synthesizing ferric-curcumin (Fe-Cur) complex nanoparticles through simple mixing of both components under controlled reaction conditions. Notably, the resultant Fe-Cur complex nanoparticles exhibit enhanced stability in comparison to their un-complexed Cur counterpart. Of paramount importance, the Fe-Cur complex nanoparticles exhibit additional photothermal conversion capabilities, conferring them with augmented antibacterial efficacy against food-borne pathogens under light stimulation. This enhancement is efficacious against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli), which were selected as representative for Gram-positive and negative strains, respectively, thereby presenting a unique strategy for integrating these particles within chitosan films to achieve desirable pork preservation performance. In summary, Fe-Cur complex nanoparticles emerge as a promising food-originating material, imbued with innovative photothermal enhanced antibacterial traits that promise to revolutionize food preservation methodologies.