Alcayota Gum Films: Experimental Reviews

Abstract

Polysaccharides obtained from plant have been investigated for the develop-ment of edible/biodegradable non petrochemical-based packaging materials. Alcayota (Curcubita ficifolia) is the fruit of a creeping plant such as waterme-lon and melon. It is the fruit of a creeping plant such as watermelon and me-lon. After separating the pulp from the husk and seeds it is dried and ground to obtain a flour. Different alcayota flour is made to hydrolyze then. Alkaline hydrolysis is released to extraction of alcayota gum and is purified by hy-droalcoholic solutions. The films were prepared from water solution of hy-drolyzed alcayota gum (AlcOH). AlcOH film present properties are mainly due to the strong hydrophilicity. In order to improve water resistance, the films were modified using glutaraldehyde (Glu), in order to make the water insoluble film. The crosslinked films providing a low water vapor permeability (WVP) and high mechanical properties expressed in elastic modulus. The X-ray diffraction showed amorphous and shift to lower dspacing, i.e. at lower distances between the polysaccharide chains. These crosslinked membranes exhibit excellent water resistance, low O2 permeation, which make them very useful in selecting biodegradable polymer and films.