Résumé
Given the huge impact of plastic pollution today, the scientific community needs to address this problem bydeveloping new alternatives to the usual oil-based-plastic. To cope with the issues of fragmentation andpersistence of conventional plastics in environment, bio-based and biodegradables polymers such aspolyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), seems to be one of these alternatives. However, PHAs suffer from thermalinstability which hinders their take-up in the plastics market1.The purpose of our research is to study the effect of polyphenols as thermal stabilizers for a food packagingmaterial produced from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) during its whole life cycle (processing, using,mechanical recycling and biodegradation). This communication will focus on the first part: the effect ofpolyphenols on polymer processing.Quercetin and Gallic Acid are the polyphenols that have been chosen to evaluate the thermal stabilizationof a polyhydroxyalkanoate2: the PHBV, during the processing steps (fig1). Several analytical and imagingtechniques were employed to assess the impact of polyphenols on the polymer thermal and structuralbehavior during extrusion, namely TGA, DSC, SEC and fluorescent microscopy.The study has revealed that the stabilization effect is dependent on the percentage and the chemicalstructure of the polyphenols added in the matrix.. Special attention to polyphenol/PHBV interactions andtheir role on the thermal degradation mechanism of the polymer allowed to determine the polyphenolstructure and optimal amount leading to stabilization