Antioxidant and spectroscopic studies of crosslinked polymers synthesized by grafting polymerization of ferulic acid

A novel, simple synthetic strategy for the preparation of crosslinked polymers with significant antioxidant properties is proposed. Ferulic acid (FA), a well-known antioxidant compound, due to its reactivity toward free radical process, was inserted into a polymeric network with methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethylene glycole dimethacrylate acting as comonomer and crosslinker, respectively. All the reactants were simultaneously mixed in the polymerization feed and one-pot radical reaction was carried out. Irregular microparticles were prepared by bulk polymerization and microspheres by precipitation polymerization. The materials were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance-magic angle spinning (NMR-MAS) studies, to verify effective FA insertion into polymeric networks, and by morphological, dimensional analyses, and water absorption measurement to study their superficial and swelling properties, respectively. Antioxidant properties of materials were evaluated by linoleic acid emulsion system-thiocyanate assay, determination of scavenging activity on DPPH radicals, determination of available phenolic groups in polymeric matrices, and determination of total antioxidant capacity. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.