Abstract
The use of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) as a food contact material is increasing over the last years. Typical contaminations in the final PBT product include its cyclic oligomers, which are allowed as additives in food contact plastics according to Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011. Their investigation is currently limited by the lack of analytical standards and physical-chemical information. Therefore, four PBT cyclic oligomers have been isolated and purified from a PBT raw material with an automated preparative HPLC-DAD system. Comprehensive characterization of the compounds was performed using Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) with high resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry, Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The purity of each oligomer was assessed using a 1H qNMR method and ranged from 96.1% to 97.0% for PBT tetramer and trimer respectively. The availability of pure and well characterized PBT cyclic oligomer standards will facilitate future studies of release from plastic food packaging materials.
Highlights
Polyesters play an important role in the production of food contact materials (FCMs)
The solubility of the raw material was investigated in order to select the most appropriate solvent to be used in the LC analysis
This study was based on the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee of Food
Summary
Polyesters play an important role in the production of food contact materials (FCMs). A relatively novel material in the area of FCMs is polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), which is currently used in kitchenware utensils, microwaveable dishware, coffee capsules and beverage cups [1]. This polymer is usually obtained by step-growth polymerization methods and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is considered the most powerful technique for its structural characterization [2]. One way to overcome this problem would be to develop thermoplastic resins that can be polymerized reactively, like thermosetting resins, while at the same time behave like thermoplastics Another option would be to add cyclic oligomers, like those from PBT, during the production of the polymer [1,2,3]
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