Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods of making active, food-grade packaging resins using a reactive extrusion step that involves reacting a polymeric material with a ligand and one of a cross-linking agent and a radical initiator in an extruder, under temperature and pressure conditions effective to cause covalent binding of the ligand to the polymeric material by a linker that is the reaction product of the cross-linking agent or by direct bond formation between the ligand and the polymeric material, and then extruding the active, food-grade packaging resin. Also disclosed are the active packaging resins obtained from such methods, methods of forming food packaging materials from the active packaging resins, the food packaging materials that contain the active packaging resins, and methods of packaging perishable food in those food packaging materials.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods of making active, food-grade packaging resins using a reactive extrusion step that involves reacting a polymeric material with a ligand and one of a cross-linking agent and a radical initiator in an extruder, under temperature and pressure conditions effective to cause covalent binding of the ligand to the polymeric material by a linker that is the reaction product of the cross-linking agent or by direct bond formation between the ligand and the polymeric material, and then extruding the active, food-grade packaging resin. Also disclosed are the active packaging resins obtained from such methods, methods of forming food packaging materials from the active packaging resins, the food packaging materials that contain the active packaging resins, and methods of packaging perishable food in those food packaging materials.