Study on the Biodegradation Process of D-Mannose Glycopolymers in Liquid Media and Soil

Ana-Maria Pană; Valentin Ordodi; Vasile Gherman; Paula Sfîrloagă; Gabriela-Alina Dumitrel

doi:10.3390/polym15153194

Study on the Biodegradation Process of D-Mannose Glycopolymers in Liquid Media and Soil

Polymers (Basel). 2023 Jul 27;15(15):3194. doi: 10.3390/polym15153194.

Authors

Ana-Maria Pană¹, Valentin Ordodi¹, Vasile Gherman¹, Paula Sfîrloagă², Gabriela-Alina Dumitrel¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Industrial Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Politehnica University Timişoara, 2 Victoriei Square, 300006 Timişoara, Romania.
² The Institute of Research for Condensed Matter, 1 P. Andronescu Street, 300224 Timişoara, Romania.

Abstract

Polymers derived from natural raw materials have become of great interest due to their increased biodegradable features and possible biocompatibility. Our group has successfully synthesized and characterized polymers derived from D-mannose oligomer (M), 2-hydroxy propyl acrylate (HPA), and methacrylate (HPMA) in different weight ratios. Their biodegradation was studied in liquid media with pure Proteus mirabilis inoculum for the samples with the most sugar residue, and the results show that the methacrylate derivative M_HPMA1 lost about 50% of its weight during incubation. SEM/EDX techniques were employed to display the modifications of the samples during the biodegradation process. The glycopolymers were buried in garden soil, and the experiment proved that more than 40% of the weight of the M_HPA1 sample was lost during biodegradation, while the other samples encountered an average of about 32% weight loss. The biodegradation profile was fitted against linear and polynomial mathematical models, which enabled an estimate of about a year for the total degradation of the D-mannose glycopolymers sample in soil.

Keywords: P. mirabilis; biodegradable polymers; glycopolymers; soil biodegradation.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitalization, project number PFE 26/30.12.2021, PERFORM-CDI@UPT100—The increasing of the performance of the Polytechnic University of Timișoara by strengthening the research, development, and technological transfer capacity in the field of “Energy, Environment, and Climate Change” at the beginning of the second century of its existence, within Program 1—Development of the national system of Research and Development, Subprogram 1.2—Institutional Performance—Institutional Development Projects—Excellence Funding Projects in RDI, PNCDI III.