Agradecimentos: The authors acknowledge the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Grant Numbers 403595/2021 and 309548/2021, and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for the post-doctoral fellowship of L. Marangoni Júnior (2021/04043-2). This study was partially financed by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil (CAPES) - Financial Code 001. The authors acknowledge Dr. Tobias Robert (Fraunhofer WKI, Germany) for all his technical support and advice Ver menos

Abstract: Although starch-based films are already being marketed as sustainable alternatives to some commercial plastics, their properties still restrict the widespread use of these materials. To improve the properties of starch film (S), itaconic acid (IA) was used for the first time in unusual concentrations (5-50 g IA/100 g S) and by different forms of incorporation, as a pure additive (without polymerization). It was also used as an additive (without polymerization -NP) or by IA polymerization, including pre-polymerization (PreP) and in situ polymerization (IS) during the film preparation stage. By varying the concentration, it was observed that the addition of higher levels of AI increased the crystallinity of the film and decreased the water vapor permeability (WVP). The film with 5 g of AI/100 g of S showed an increase in elongation at break (EB) from 18.7 to 45.1%, with no significant changes in tensile strength (TS). Different methods of incorporating AI did not affect TS or EB, but substantially influenced barrier properties, and for the PreP technique, PVA was reduced from 2.5 x 10(-10) (control) to 1.7 x 10(-10) gm(-1) s(-1) Pa-1. These results suggest that S/IA films can be considered promising sustainable alternatives to food packaging materials with improved performance Ver menos