Biodegradation of Poly(ester urethane)s by Bacillus subtilis

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Laboratory ofMolecular Chemistry and Natural Substances University of Sciences Moulay Ismail, BP 11201,Meknès,Morocco

2 Laboratory ofMicrobial Biotechnology. Faculty of Science and Technology, Fez, Morocco

Abstract

Polyurethanes (PURs) are polymers that can be generated by a step-growth polyaddition
reaction of diisocyanates with polyols. The number of well-developed chemical procedures applicable to their
manufacture, and the diversity of chemical structures in which polyurethanes can be built, account for the
widespread use of these materials in the last few decades for both domestic and technical applications due to
its excellent mechanical and thermal properties and their high resistance to the climatic changes. Nevertheless,
its high resistance to degradation in aqueous media or bymicroorganism constitutes not only a great disadvantage
for its use as material in medical applications (vascular grafts, artificial heart diaphragms, valves, catheters…)
but also as one of the sources of the pollution of the environment. In this work, we report the degradation of
a commercial poly (ester-urethane) by microorganisms isolated from cedar wood. This is the first study that
demonstrates the degradation of polyurethane by isolated microorganisms from wood. Analyses were carried
out by Infrared spectroscopy.

Keywords

International Journal of Environmental Research
Volume 9, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
January 2015
Pages 157-162

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