POLY (β-HYDROXYALKANOATES): NATURAL BIOCOMPATIBLE AND BIODEGRADABLE POLYESTERS PRODUCED BY BACTERIA

A wide variety of different types of microorganisms are known to produce intracellular energy and carbon storage products, which have been generally described as being poly (β-hydroxybutyrate), PHB, but which are, more often than not, copolymers containing different alkyl groups at the β-position. Hence, PHB belongs to the family ofpoly (β-hydroxyalkanoastes), PHA, all of which are usually formed as intracellular inclusions in bacteria under unbalanced growth conditions. Recently, it became of industrial interest to evaluate these PHA polyesters as natural biodegradable and biocompatible plastics for a wide range of possible applications, such as surgical sutures or packaging containers. For industrial applications, the controlled incorporation of repeating units with different chain lengths into a series of copolymers is desirable in order to produce polyesters with a range of material properties because physical and chemical characteristics depend strongly on the polymer composition. Such "tailor-made" copolymers can be produced under controlled growth conditions in that, if a defined mixture of substrates for a certain type of microorganisms is supplied, a well defined and reproducible copolymer is formed.

POLY (β-HYDROXYALKANOATES): NATURAL BIOCOMPATIBLE AND BIODEGRADABLE POLYESTERS PRODUCED BY BACTERIA

 A wide variety of different types of microorganisms are known to produce intracellular energy and carbon storage products, which have been generally described as being poly (β-hydroxybutyrate), PHB, but which are, more often than not, copolymers containing different alkyl groups at the β-position. Hence, PHB belongs to the family ofpoly (β-hydroxyalkanoastes), PHA, all of which are usually formed as intracellular inclusions in bacteria under unbalanced growth conditions. Recently, it became of industrial interest to evaluate these PHA polyesters as natural biodegradable and biocompatible plastics for a wide range of possible applications,such as surgical sutures or packaging containers.For industrial applications,the controlled incorporation of repeating units with different chain lengths into a series of copolymers is desirable in order to produce polyesters with a range of material properties because physical and chemical characteristics depend strongly on the polymer composition.Such"made"copolymers can be produced under controlled growth conditions in that,if a defined mixture of substrates for a certain type of microorganisms is supplied,a welldefined and reproducible copolymer is formed.