Premium
Brief review of biochemical degradation of polymers
Author(s) -
Kulkarni R. K.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760050404
Subject(s) - polymer , materials science , degradation (telecommunications) , enzyme , polymer degradation , hydrolysis , cleavage (geology) , combinatorial chemistry , polymer science , nanotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , computer science , composite material , telecommunications , fracture (geology)
Proteins and synthetic polypeptides undergo specific catalytic cleavage by enzymes. It is the object of this article to review the specific hydrolytic, redox, and electron transfer reactions involving enzymes and their mechanisms. The stability of the synthetic high polymers in the biochemical environments is much higher than that of proteins in general, but the increasing use of these materials in the field of surgical implants and internal prostheses has necessitated the systematic long range study of the systems in these surroundings. The enzymatic attack on the synthetic polymers has not been the subject of general study until now, but the intimate knowledge of the specificity and mode of attack of the enzymes, in case of the proteins, would pave the way towards experimental designs to elucidate the comparative stability of various synthetic plastics in these environments. The study of the correlation of the mechanical strength and the chemical structures of these polymers tested as implants in living animals is reviewed, and the suitability of several synthetic polymers for this application is discussed.