eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Polymer and Biopolymer Physics Chemistry 2373-3411 2019-07-21 7 1 10 17 10.12691/jpbpc-7-1-2 JPBPC2019712 article Adanze A.Nwakaudu angela.nwakaudu@futo.edu.ng 1 Madueke S. Nwakaudu 2 Clifford I. Owuamanam 2 Nnamdi C. Iheaturu 3 Michael O. Daramola 4 Department of Food Science & Technology, Federal University of Technology, PMB 1526, Owerri, Imo, Nigeria Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo, Nigeria Department of Polymer and Textile Engineering, Federal University of Technology, PMB 1526, Owerri, Imo state, Nigeria. School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa Natural antioxidant was extracted from Monodora myristica, a shrub grown majorly in South-East Nigeria, otherwise called “Ehuru” by the Ibo tribe in Nigeria. About 0 to 5% w/w compositions of Monodora myristica antioxidant extract (MAE) were infused into polysulfone (PS) resin. Another set of samples were compounded with 5% α-tocopherol (AT) in PS resin and other set of samples were infused with a combination of MAE and AT in PS resin. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) and N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP) were used as solvents at the ratio 3:1. During the blending, mechanical, physico-chemical, thermal, morphological and barrier properties of the films were checked and compared with that of the pure PS. The antioxidative ability of the produced films was investigated using DPPH method. The results obtained show that tensile strength of the blended PS films reduced significantly with higher concentration of MAE accompanied with significant increase in elongation at break (EAB) when compared to that of the pure PS, while the antioxidative ability of the films increased significantly with addition of the MAE (p < 0.05). Results of the thermal property reveal that the glass transition temperature (Tg) for 5% MAE/AT active PS film was near 102.05°C higher than that of the pure PS. SEM micrographs showed a reduction in porosity of the pure PS films as the concentration of the MAE antioxidant increased from 1 to 5% w/w. Addition of 5% concentration MAE in PS produced very smooth and homogenous surface film without separation. The rate of permea-tion of oxygen gas into the active PS films reduced significantly from 0.1079±0.25 cm3s-1 to 0.0277±0.17cm3s-1 as the concentration of MAE in the film increased. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jpbpc/7/1/2/jpbpc-7-1-2.pdf active polymer package natural antioxidant monodora myristica spice extract lipid preservation