Degradation mechanism of green biopolyester nanocomposites with various cellulose nanocrystal based nanohybrids

Oceans and soils have been contaminated with traditional plastic due to its lack of degradability. Therefore, green biopolymer composites reinforced with cellulose nanocrystal-zinc oxide hybrids (ZnO hybrids) with good biodegradation ability provided a positive impact on reducing environmental challenges. In this work, the effect of various morphologies of ZnO hybrids on the biodegradation ability of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), PBAT) under seawater, soil burial, and UV aging conditions were investigated. Sheet-like ZnO hybrids (s-ZnO hybrid) efficiently enhanced the mechanical, UV-blocking properties and biodegradation ability of PBAT nanocomposite films. Compared to neat PBAT, the best tensile strength of PBAT nanocomposite with 2 wt% s-ZnO hybrid was increased by 15.1%, meanwhile this nanocomposite films showed the highest biodegradation rate after 80 days of soil degradation and 90 days of seawater degradation. Besides, three possible biodegradation mechanisms of green PBAT nanocomposite films were presented, hinting that such PBAT nanocomposite have great promising packaging applications.

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Synthesis,Spectroscopic Studies and Keto-Enol Tautomerism of Novel 1,3,4-Thiadiazole Derivative Containing 3-Mercaptobutan-2-one and Quinazolin-4-one Moieties

In this study, a novel 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivative containing 3-mercaptobutan-2-one and quinazolin-4-one moieties (Compound 3) is synthesized by the coupling of 2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-5-(3-mercaptobutan-2-one) (Compound 1) with 2-Phenyl-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one (Compound 2) in one molecule moiety. Compound 3 is found to exist as two types of intra-molecular hydrogen bonding with keto-enol tautomerism characters, which is further confirmed using FTIR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, mass spectrometer, and UV-Visible spectra. The ¹H-NMR and UV-Visible spectra of Compound 3 are investigated in different solvents such as methanol, chloroform, and DMSO. Compound 3 exhibits keto-enol tautomeric forms in solvents with different percentage ratios depending on the solvent polarity. The ¹H-NMR and UV-Visible spectral results show that Compound 3 favors the keto over the enol form in polar aprotic solvents such as DMSO and the enol over the keto form in non-polar solvents such as chloroform. The ¹³C-NMR spectrum gives two singles at δ 204.5 ppm, due to ketonic carbon, and δ 155.5 ppm, due to enolic carbon, confirming the keto-enol tautomerism of Compound 3. Furthermore, the molecular ion at m/z 43 and m/z 407 in the mass spectrum of Compound 3 and fragmentation mechanisms proposed reveal the existence of the keto and enol forms, respectively.     

Synthesis of Hg metal complex and its application to reduce the optical band gap of polymer

This study explored a new approach to fabricate the Schiff base ligand system from both ethylenediamine and 3-chloro-2-butanone. Through coordination chemistry, the mercury Hg (II) complex was achieved from the ligand and then embedded in the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) host using a solution casting technique to prepare polymer composites (PCs). Both UV–visible and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies highlighted the formation of the Hg (II) metal complex. These techniques confirmed the synthesis of the Hg (II) metal complex. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the polymer composite has shown a significant enhancement in its amorphous nature compared to the pure PVA host. The thermal analysis spectra for the Hg (II) complex revealed high thermal stability. The occurrence of the complexation between the Hg (II) and host matrix of the PVA was identified from the wide shifting of UV–vis absorption and peak shifting with intensity reduction of the FTIR spectra. Tauc's method has been employed to evaluate the optical band gap, and determine the types of electronic transitions. The results have shown that the samples were exhibiting an indirect forbidden electron transition, with a significant reduction in the optical band gap of a doped sample that approaching inorganic semiconductor based-materials. In addition, the optical study has exposed the role of the Hg (II) complex in tuning the refractive index of the host polymer. Ultimately, the absorption edge was found to be shifted to the lower photon energy upon the insertion of the Hg (II) complex. The PVA doped sample displayed a substantial shift in band gap from 6.2 eV to 1.2 eV.