Efficient Preparation and Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Biobased β-Pinene Terpolymers via Self-Stabilized Precipitation Polymerization

Due to the sustainability and antibacterial and antioxidant properties, β-pinene (BP)-based polymers have recently garnered widespread attention in the academic and industrial communities. Yet, the poor polymerization efficiency of BP precludes its large-scale use. In this article, we used the self-stabilized precipitation (2SP) polymerization technique to prepare monodisperse poly(maleic anhydride (MAH)-co-vinyl acetate (VAc)-co-BP) (PMVBP) microspheres with a controllable size and yield (D_n of 0.91-2.10 μm and Y_p of 20-96%), the molar content of MAH in the copolymer remaining around 50% and the maximum molar content of BP reaching 33%. Furthermore, under the conditions of a BP molar content of 23% and a PMVBP concentration of 30 mg/mL, the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity of PMVBP reaches a maximum of 72.52 ± 0.14%. The inhibitory efficiency against Escherichia coli at a concentration of 2 mg/mL is as high as 97%. These results indicate that PMVBP possesses excellent antioxidant and antibacterial properties, rendering it suitable for the applications in food packaging, pharmaceuticals, and other biomedical fields.