Cutin from <i>Solanum Myriacanthum</i> Dunal and <i>Solanum Aculeatissimum</i> Jacq. as a Potential Raw Material for Biopolymers

• Main Authors: Mayra Beatriz Gómez-Patiño, Rosa Estrada-Reyes, María Elena Vargas-Diaz, Daniel Arrieta-Baez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: cutin; cuticles; bioplastics; biopolymers; solanum: CPMAS ¹³C NMR
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/9/1945

Plant cuticles have attracted attention because they can be used to produce hydrophobic films as models for novel biopolymers. Usually, cuticles are obtained from agroresidual waste. To find new renewable natural sources to design green and commercially available bioplastics, fruits of <i>S. aculeatissimum</i> and <i>S. myriacanthum</i> were analyzed. These fruits are not used for human or animal consumption, mainly because the fruit is composed of seeds. Fruit peels were object of enzymatic and chemical methods to get thick cutins in good yields (approximately 77% from dry weight), and they were studied by solid-state resonance techniques (CPMAS ¹³C NMR), attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and direct injection electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DIESI-MS) analytical methods. The main component of <i>S. aculeatissimum</i> cutin is 10,16-dihydroxypalmitic acid (10,16-DHPA, 69.84%), while <i>S. myriacanthum</i> cutin besides of 10,16-DHPA (44.02%); another two C18 monomers: 9,10,18-trihydroxy-octadecanoic acid (24.03%) and 18-hydroxy-9S,10R-epoxy-octadecanoic acid (9.36%) are present. The hydrolyzed cutins were used to produce films demonstrating that both cutins could be a potential raw material for different biopolymers.