Mechanism and kinetics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of polyester nanoparticles by lipases

Plastic Degradation and Its Environmental Implications with Special Reference to Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

“…Many studies have investigated the degradability of a wide range of polymers [29,32,45,[72][73][74][75]. Zheng et al [30] observed that in most cases, polymers with pure carbon backbones are particularly resistant to most methods of degradation, but polymers that include heteroatoms in the backbone (e.g., polyesters, polyamines) show higher susceptibility to degradation.…”

“…This suggests that the reason for the extreme stability arises from being in a polymeric state. There have been a few studies that have established a link between plastic degradability and the degree of crystallisation of the polymer [39,72,73,[75][76][77]. Increased crystallisation limits chain movement and decreases the availability of polymer chains for degradative agents, such as microbial lipases or other ester lysing molecules (Figure 3).…”

Novel poly(butylene succinate) nanocomposites containing strontium hydroxyapatite nanorods with enhanced osteoconductivity for tissue engineering applications

“…For example, tissue engineering scaffolds should have both good biocompatibility and cell adhesive properties, in addition to needed biodegradable properties [23]. Polyesters having a relatively large number of methylene groups and those having a-and b-ester bonds as PBSu with low T m are hydrolysable by lipases [24]. As was reported in the experimental section, enzymatic hydrolysis of PBSu and its nanocomposites was studied in aqueous solutions containing a mixture of R. delemar and Pseudomonas Cepacia lipases, at 37°C and pH = 7.2 for 40 days.…”

A Practical Fluorescence-Based Screening Protocol for Polyethylene Terephthalate Degrading Microorganisms

“…Thus, the enzymatic polymer hydrolysis rate can be improved when the process is conducted with nanoparticles, which exhibit an enhanced surface area when compared to polymer films. 11,23 This higher hydrolysis rate provided by the enhanced surface area can overcome the limitation caused by the densely packed structure of PET bottles, resulting in greater enzyme access to PET polyester chains. 4 The fungus Aspergillus oryzae C361 showed one of the highest conversions of PET nanoparticles (Table 1).…”