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Enzymatic degradation of thermoresponsive poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) grafted to carboxymethylcellulose copolymers
Author(s) -
Vasile Cornelia,
Marinescu Cristina,
Vornicu Raluca,
Staikos Georgios
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.11395
Subject(s) - copolymer , polymer chemistry , chemistry , intrinsic viscosity , degradation (telecommunications) , acrylamide , materials science , chemical engineering , polymer , organic chemistry , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
The enzymatic degradation of poly( N ‐isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) grafted to carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) copolymers with a cellulasic preparation ( Trichoderma viride ) was studied. The enzymatic activity of the cellulasic preparation against CMC and the grafted copolymers was determined by the Petterson–Porath method, while their reduced viscosity variation in the presence of the same preparation was also followed. It has been shown that the enzymatic degradation behavior depends on the copolymer composition and the reaction temperature. Reducing sugars analysis showed that the experimental values for the grafted copolymers were higher than the calculated ones. At 50°C, the enzymatic reaction is completed in about 20 min for the copolymers, whereas for CMC it takes more than 40 min. It can be concluded that their enzymatic degradation is facilitated by the presence of the PNIPAM grafts. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 1383–1386, 2003