Characterization of Poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) Isolated from Alcaligenes latus and Bacillus sp.

J.A. LÓPEZ JIMÉNEZ; M.A. CUBITTO; M.A. VILLAR

Los Cocos, Córdoba

Congreso; V Simposio Binacional de Polímeros Argentino-Chileno, ARCHIPOL´09I, VIII Simposio Argentino de Polímeros, SAP VIII y IX Simposio Chileno de Química y Fisicoquímica de Polímeros, CHIPOL IX; 2009

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are microbial polyesters of 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-hydroxyalkanoic acid units, produced by a variety of bacterial species and are classified as both biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymers. They are synthesized by bacteria as storage compounds for energy and carbon, normally in the presence of excess carbon source with at least one essential nutrient for growth, such nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur or oxygen present in limiting concentration. Poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is, may be, the most studied member of the PHAs family. This is a thermoplastic material with properties similar to polypropylene, with the huge advantage that PHB is a fully degradable non-xenobiotic polymer. In this work, the synthesis and characterization study of PHB isolated from two different strains (Bacillus sp. and Alcaligenes latus) has been developed. The principal objective is to find any possible differences between the bioplastic obtained from the two strains, and the effect of implemented isolation method on PHB chemical structure.