Abstract
The synthesis, characterization, hydrolysis and biodegradation of a copoly(ester amide), poly[acrylamide-co-(ε-caprolactone)], are described. The hydrogen transfer copolymerization of acrylamide (AA) with ε-caprolactone (CLN) in the presence of butyllithium or calcium hydride as initiators has been investigated. The calcium hydride was effective for the synthesis of the copoly(ester amide) in a wide range of polymer composition (AA/CLN = 10 : 90 to 90 : 10). The copoly(ester amide) was readily hydrolyzed in the presence of hydrochloric acid (0.1 n) at 125°C in an autoclave (e. g. AA/CLN = 59 : 41, degradation 93%). Furthermore, the copoly(ester amide) was hydrolyzed enzymatically by lipase from Rhizopus arrhizus. The behavior of the enzymatic hydrolysis differed to the non-enzymatic hydrolysis. The enzymatic hydrolyzability was remarkable in the range of the AA repeating unit (β-alanine unit) from 10 to 40 mol-% (e. g. AA/CLN = 27 : 73, degradation 44%), while, the degradability for the non-enzymatic hydrolysis rose with increasing AA repeating unit content. The biodegradation of the copoly(ester amide) was evaluated using a standard activated sludge (e. g. AA/CLN = 27 : 73 biodegradation 45%). The relationship between the biodegradation and the polymer composition was similar for the standard activated sludge and the enzymatic hydrolysis.
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