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Biodegradation of gelatin– g ‐poly(ethyl acrylate) copolymers
Author(s) -
Kumar G. Sudesh,
Kalpagam V.,
Nandi U. S.,
Vasantharajan V. N.
Publication year - 1981
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.1981.070261111
Subject(s) - copolymer , grafting , biodegradation , serratia marcescens , gelatin , ethyl acrylate , monomer , population , polymer , chemistry , polymer chemistry , acrylate , nuclear chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , biochemistry , escherichia coli , demography , sociology , gene
Abstract Gelatin‐ g ‐poly(ethyl acrylate) copolymers were prepared in an aqueous medium, using K 2 S 2 O 8 initiator. The composition of the graft copolymers was dependent upon temperature and duration of the reaction. The number of grafting sites was small and molecular weight of the grafted poly(ethyl acrylate) branches was high. Three copolymer samples with grafting efficiencies of 33.3%, 61.0%, and 84.0%, were tested for their microbial susceptibility in a synthetic medium employing a mixed inoculum of Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and Serratia marcescens and the percent weight losses were 12%, 10.1%, and 6.0%, respectively, after 6 weeks of incubation. The extent of degradation seems to decrease with increasing grafting efficiency. There was initial rapid weight loss accompanied by the exponential increase in bacterial population and pH of the culture medium during the first week. The nitrogen analysis also showed the utilization of the polymer. A parallel set of experiments, carried out by employing the samples as the only source of both carbon and nitrogen, showed a marginal but definite increase in the utilization of the polymer.