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Microbial synthesis and properties of poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐4‐hydroxybutyrate)
Author(s) -
Saito Yuji,
Nakamura Shigeo,
Hiramitsu Masaya,
Doi Yoshiharu
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0126(199603)39:3<169::aid-pi453>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - copolyester , polyhydroxyalkanoates , polyhydroxybutyrate , biodegradation , materials science , elastomer , copolymer , polyester , alcaligenes , polymer , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , nuclear chemistry , chemistry , bacteria , pseudomonas , biology , genetics
Microbial synthesis of copolymers of [R]‐3‐hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 4‐hydroxybutyrate (4HB), P(3HB‐co‐4HB), by Alcaligenes eutrophus, Alcaligenes latus , and Comamonas acidovorans from various carbon sources has been studied. The copolyester compositions varied from 0 to 100 mol% 4HB, depending on the microorganism and the combination of carbon substrates supplied. The thermal and physical properties of compositions with 0–100 mol% 4HB were investigated. The copolyesters represented a wide variety of polymeric materials, from hard crystalline plastic to very elastic rubbers, depending on composition. The copolyester films with high 4HB fractions (64–100 mol% 4HB) exhibited the characteristics of a thermoplastic elastomer, and the tensile strength increased from 17 to 104 MPa as the 4HB fraction increased. The enzymatic degradation of P(3HB‐co‐4HB) films was studied in an aqueous solution of extracellular polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) depolymerase from Alcaligenes faecalis or lipase from Rhizopus delemer . The erosion rate of P(3HB‐co‐4HB) films was strongly dependent on the copolymer composition. In addition, environmental degradation of P(3HB‐co‐4HB) films in sea water was investigated.