Antibacterial activity of tymol-doped acrylic coatings for bioactive food packaging.

This study is devoted to investigate the possibility to prepare thymol-doped antibacterial coatings. For this purpose, thymol has been dissolved in different amounts into a liquid photo-crosslinkable diacrylic resin, and the antibacterial activity of thymol-containing plastic discs has been evaluated against Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli (gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive) by qualitative modified agar diffusion assays. The antibacterial activity of thymol-containing coatings is expected to depend on the ability of thymol to move to the surface and to be released in the surrounding medium. In order to investigate this aspect, after photo-curing, release tests have been performed by putting thymol-containing plastic discs in contact with different liquid simulating fat (n-hexane), acqueous (water) and intermediate polarity (MeOH and EtOH) media.