Capsulated essential oil in gel spheres for the protection of cellulosic cultural heritage

Abstract

In this paper we present a possible application of cinnamon essential oil to be encapsulated into gel drops of psyllium and of psyllium-alginate mixtures and to be released by the beads. It could act as green biocide for the protection of antique books, old documents and, generally, of any cellulosic material (paper, wood, textiles) object of cultural interest from biological attack. The components of the cinnamon essential oil, released by alginate, psyllium-alginate and purified psyllium-alginate beads, were determined by GC-MS analysis. Moreover, an evaluation of the cinnamon essential oil release during the time was carried out by in time HS-SPME-GS-MS so to obtain in time semi-quantitative informations about the emitted gaseous species. Last by, in order to confirm the ability of the beads to perform an antimicrobial action, respirometric tests were carried out on Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells looking at the reduction of their breathing activity, when in presence of the above beads.

An In Vitro Evaluation of the Biocidal Effect of Oregano and Cloves’ Volatile Compounds against Microorganisms Colonizing an Oil Painting—A Pioneer Study

“…EOs' roles as antimicrobial agents have been tested on paper documents [13][14][15], historical textiles [16], wooden and stone artefacts [17,18], and also on objects of large dimensions [19]. Elsayed and Shabana [20] evaluated the effect of some EOs on fungal infestation on simulated painting models.…”

Anti-Mold Effectiveness of a Green Emulsion Based on Citrus aurantium Hydrolate and Cinnamomum zeylanicum Essential Oil for the Modern Paintings Restoration

“…C. zeylanicum EO has been poorly studied in restoration. In particular, two types of applications were tested: the first was through the nebulization of this EO to preserve ancient textile fibers, while the second exploited the effectiveness of the EO encapsulated in psylliumalginate beads [21,22]. Considering the antimicrobial efficacy already established in the literature of C. zeylanicum EO and its vapors, we decided to study the activity of this EO in association with the C. aurantium var amara Hy already known as an anti-fungal treatment for cultural heritage [10].…”

Il Silenzio: The First Renaissance Oil Painting on Canvas from the Uffizi Museum Restored with a Safe, Green Antimicrobial Emulsion Based on Citrus aurantium var. amara Hydrolate and Cinnamomum zeylanicum Essential Oil

“…The study showed the bactericidal and fungicidal activity of vapours of C. zeylanicum EO in disinfecting textiles without altering their chemical-physical characteristics. In a recent work, Campanella et al [19] showed the potential use of C. zeylanicum EO when encapsulated in psyllium-alginate beads for applications on paper works [19]. However, the Hy of C. aurantium var.…”

“…The former are extremely concentrated hydrophobic natural products with an important antimicrobial activity, and that cannot be used pure because they are potentially toxic. Several research groups have tested the antimicrobial activity of EOs especially in the restoration of marble artworks, while studies of their applications on other types of cultural heritage such as paper, textile, or painting artworks are limited [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Whereas, the latter (very cheap products of distillation) are extremely diluted hydrophilic mixtures with lower microbicidal activity in exchange for a higher versatility and safety.…”