Investigation of Novel Strategies to Improve the Storage Stability and the Antimicrobial Activity of Ozonized Sunflower Oil

Ozonized sunflower oil has been found to have a valuable antimicrobial activity against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. However, delayed cutaneous wound healing, severe adverse skin reactions such as pain, burns, irritation, and unsatisfactory storage stability have limited its clinical use as it is known that the performance of ozonized sunflower oil is reflected by core indicators such as iodine value (IV), peroxide value (PV), and acid value (AV). Aiming to improve the above characteristics, ozone oxidation conditions such as the oil water content of raw materials, stirring speed, and ozonized time were successfully optimized, and the optimized conditions were 5%, 300 rpm, and 6 h, respectively. Additionally, the UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS was used to identify the compounds of sunflower oil and ozonation sunflower oil, and 10 fatty acids were successfully identified. The results clearly indicated that the ozonized sunflower oil prepared under optimized ozonation conditions achieved a high degree of ozonation (II) and a satisfactory PV/AV ratio. These optimized conditions further proved to be valuable in improving not only the storage stability of ozonized sunflower oil for up to six months but also in ensuring its remarkable antimicrobial effects on Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, with a PV of 165.75 mmol/kg achieving a 100% antibacterial efficacy.