doi:10.3390/nano12172900engRupérez, DavidGracia-Vallés, NicolásClavero, EvaSilva, FilomenaNerín, CristinaMechanochemically Scaled-Up Alpha Cyclodextrin Nanosponges: Their Safety and Effectiveness as Ethylene ScavengerART-2022-131200Aiming at the development of a greener ethylene removal alternative, the goal of this study was to scale up and ensure the safety of α-cyclodextrin nanosponges (α-CD-NS) for further use as ethylene scavengers. The solvent-free synthesis of α-CD-NS was successfully scaled up using α-cyclodextrin and N,N′-carbonyldiimidazole as cross-linkers (1:4 molar ratio) by means of mechanical alloying using a PM 100 ball mill by focusing on varying the rotation frequency, as determined by FTIR-ATR, X-ray diffraction, and TGA. α-CD-NS washing optimization was performed in water by monitoring the imidazole concentration in the washing solution through the validation of a fast and sensitive HPLC-DAD method. After 6 h at 40 °C, all imidazole was extracted, allowing a faster and less energy-dependent extraction. α-CD-NS absorbent capacity and porosity were also evaluated through BET isotherms and ethylene absorption experiments using α-CD-NS and commercially available absorbents (zeolite and bentonite) were performed by means of gas chromatography (GC) coupled to a flame ionization detector (FID). With a 93 µL h−1 kgadsorbent−1 ethylene removal capacity, α-CD-NS revealed the best ethylene scavenging activity when compared to the other absorbents, opening the doors for a safer, innovative, and eco-friendlier ethylene removal active packaging.2022http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/12024410.3390/nano12172900http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/120244oai:zaguan.unizar.es:120244info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/RTI2018-097805-B-I00Nanomaterials 12, 17 (2022), 2900 [16 pp.]byhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess