Environmental Biodegradation of Water-Soluble Polymers: Key Considerations and Ways Forward

Abstract

Water-soluble polymers (WSPs) have unique properties that are valuable in diverse applications ranging from home and personal care products to agricultural formulations. For applications that result in the release of WSPs into natural environments or engineered systems, such as agricultural soils and wastewater streams, biodegradable as opposed to nonbiodegradable WSPs have the advantage of breaking down and, thereby, eliminating the risk of persistence and accumulation. In this Commentary, we emphasize central steps in WSP biodegradation, discuss how these steps depend on both WSP properties and characteristics of the receiving environment, and highlight critical requirements for testing WSP biodegradability.

Water-Soluble Synthetic Polymers: Their Environmental Emission Relevant Usage, Transport and Transformation, Persistence, and Toxicity

“…99 Generally, the extracellular breakdown of WSPs is considered the initial and rate-limiting step of biodegradation; further breakdown results in breakdown products that are small enough to be used for intracellular metabolism. 98 The mechanism of degradation of PAM by amidases as extracellular enzymes has been demonstrated. The amidases are able to hydrolyze amide groups to ammonia, and extracellular enzymes from the aliphatic amidase family in Pseudomonas aeruginosa HI47 are able to convert amide groups to carboxyl groups.…”

“…The biodegradation of WSPs is caused by the metabolic utilization of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi, and algae) in the receiving environment. , WSPs may be used by microorganisms as the sole source of nitrogen and/or carbon under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and further partially or completely degraded by a range of different enzymes . Generally, the extracellular breakdown of WSPs is considered the initial and rate-limiting step of biodegradation; further breakdown results in breakdown products that are small enough to be used for intracellular metabolism . The mechanism of degradation of PAM by amidases as extracellular enzymes has been demonstrated.…”

Stretchable, Biodegradable Dual Cross-Linked Chitin Hydrogels with High Strength and Toughness and their Potential Applications in Flexible Electronics

“…In recent years, polymer hydrogels have been utilized to create flexible wearable electronics because of their transparency, flexibility, and stretchability. − The hydrogel is in close contact with human skin and tissue; therefore, it must have good biocompatibility and mechanical properties, be able to withstand large force loading, and be deformable in response to normal human activities. In addition, the biodegradability of the hydrogels must be addressed in practical applications. − Most hydrogels fail to meet all these requirements. Therefore, hydrogels with excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and biodegradability are of great significance for the performance stabilization and functional expansion of flexible electronics .…”

Diffusion-Ordered Spectroscopy for Rapid and Facile Determination of Consumer Plastic Molecular Weight

“…For instance, the average values and dispersity of MWs have large influences on the physical properties of synthetic polymer resins. , A single homopolymer (meaning, of one chemical structure) may be synthesized with different MWs, which are then used for different applications based on the resulting thermal or mechanical properties. When leaked into the environment, only low MW constituents of polymers (even water-soluble ones) are available for biodegradation, and MW is expected to decrease upon exposure to sunlight via chain scission reactions. − Therefore, polymer MW is expected to be a controlling factor for their environmental fate. These collective roles that MW plays call for analytical approaches for polymer MW that are efficient, accurate, and precise.…”