Leather is produced by a multi-step process among which the tanning phase is the most relevant, transforming animal skin collagen into a stable, non-putrescible material used to produce a variety of different goods, for the footwear, automotive, garments, and sports industry. Most of the leather produced today is tanned with chromium (III) salts or alternatively with aldehydes or synthetic tannins, generating high environmental concern. Over the years, high exhaustion tanning systems have been developed to reduce the environmental impact of chromium salts, which nevertheless do not avoid the use of metals. Chrome-free alternatives such as aldehydes and phenol based synthetic tannins, are suffering from Reach restrictions due to their toxicity. Thus, the need for environmentally benign and economically sustainable tanning agents is increasingly urgent. In this review, the synthesis, use and tanning mechanism of a new class of tanning agents, 1,3,5-triazines derivatives, have been reported together with organoleptic, physical mechanical characteristics of tanned leather produced. Additionally environmental performance and economic data available for 1,3,5-triazines have been compared with those of a standard basic chromium sulphate tanning process, evidencing the high potentiality for sustainable, metal, aldehyde, and phenol free leather manufacturing.

The growing environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics has intensified research into sustainable, biodegradable alternatives for food packaging. Among bio-derived polymers, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) has attracted increasing attention due to its abundance, non-toxicity, biodegradability, and excellent film-forming ability. Nevertheless, the intrinsic hydrophilicity and limited mechanical strength of neat CMC restrict its direct application in packaging systems. This review provides a comprehensive and critical overview of recent strategies developed between 2015 and 2025 to enhance the performance of CMC-based films for food packaging applications. Emphasis is placed on physical and chemical modification routes, including polymer blending, polyelectrolyte complex formation, incorporation of functional fillers and nanomaterials, and ionic or covalent crosslinking approaches. The influence of these strategies on key functional properties, such as mechanical behavior, water barrier performance, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, is systematically discussed. Particular attention is given to CMC-rich systems, enabling meaningful comparison across studies. By highlighting structure–property relationships and identifying current limitations, this review aims to provide guidance for the rational design of advanced CMC-based materials as viable, eco-friendly alternatives to conventional plastic packaging.

First crosslinked CMC films with aliphatic diamines via DMTMM show enhanced barrier, mechanical, and UV-shielding properties, highlighting the role of hydrophobic chains in sustainable food packaging.

The growing environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics has intensified re-search into sustainable, biodegradable alternatives for food packaging. Among bio-derived polymers, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) has attracted increasing atten-tion due to its abundance, non-toxicity, biodegradability, and excellent film-forming ability. Nevertheless, the intrinsic hydrophilicity and limited mechanical strength of neat CMC restrict its direct application in packaging systems. This review provides a comprehensive and critical overview of recent strategies developed between 2015 and 2025 to enhance the performance of CMC-based films for food packaging applications. Emphasis is placed on physical and chemical modification routes, including polymer blending, polyelectrolyte complex formation, incorporation of functional fillers and nanomaterials, and ionic or covalent crosslinking approaches. The influence of these strategies on key functional properties, such as mechanical behavior, water barrier performance, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, is systematically discussed. Par-ticular attention is given to CMC-rich systems, enabling meaningful comparison across studies. By highlighting structure-property relationships and identifying current limi-tations, this review aims to provide guidance for the rational design of advanced CMC-based materials as viable, eco-friendly alternatives to conventional plastic packaging.

This study presents a new approach for enhancing the functional properties of TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofiber films through aliphatic amine grafting. The functionalised films exhibited substantially improved surface and barrier properties.