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Agri-food wastes (such as brewer’s spent grain, olive pomace, residual pulp from fruit juice production, etc.) are produced annually in very high quantities posing a serious problem, both environmentally and economically. These wastes can be used as secondary starting materials to produce value-added goods within the principles of the circular economy. In this context, this review focuses on the use of agri-food wastes either to produce building blocks for bioplastics manufacturing or biofillers to be mixed with other bioplastics. The pros and cons of the literature analysis have been highlighted, together with the main aspects related to the production of bioplastics, their use and recycling. The high number of European Union (EU)-funded projects for the valorisation of agri-food waste with the best European practices for this industrial sector confirm a growing interest in safeguarding our planet from environmental pollution. However, problems such as the correct labelling and separation of bioplastics from fossil ones remain open and to be optimised, with the possibility of reuse before final composting and selective recovery of biomass.

The work reports the use of polyamidoamine dendrimers (PAMAM) and a cross-linking agent, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide (EDC/NHS) or 4-(4,6-dimethoxy[1,3,5]triazin-2-yl)-4-methyl-morpholinium chloride (DMTMM), for the thermal stabilization of dermal bovine collagen. The efficiency of EDC/NHS/PAMAM and DMTMM/PAMAM in the cross-linking of collagen is correlated to the increase of the collagen shrinkage temperature (Ts), measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). An alternative enzymatic protocol was adopted to measure the degradability of EDC/NHS/PAMAM tanned hides; these data are correlated to the thermal stability values measured by DSC. In the presence of PAMAMs, EDC/NHS provides very high stabilization of bovine dermal collagen, giving Ts of up to 95 °C, while DMTMM achieves lower stabilization. Preliminary tanning tests carried out in best reaction conditions show that EDC/NHS/PAMAM could be an interesting, environmentally-sustainable tanning system which is completely free of metals, formaldehyde, and phenols. Two new unreported dendrimeric species were synthesized and employed.

Nowadays, the development of new approaches which smartly bypass the use of harsh reaction conditions and hazardous chemicals covers a pivotal role. In this research paper the synthesis, characterization, and application of novel libraries of triazine bis-quaternary ammonium salts, employed as coupling agents to produce amides is reported. Full characterization of the novel compounds by 1H and 13C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, ESI-HRMS, and elemental analysis is provided. Furthermore, a comparison in terms of activity of the preformed triazine compounds versus in situ formulations has been evaluated for the formation of amides in the presence of phenylethylamine and different aliphatic or aromatic acids. A possible correlation between the chemical structure of the triazine and their reactivity for the formation of the triazine bis-quaternary ammonium salts is also reported. Moreover, best performing condensation agents have been further tested for the cross-linking of collagen powder as possible wet white tanning systems, for sustainable and environmentally friendly leather tanning.