ABSTRACT
Due to increasing problems in waste management, biodegradable polymers have become of new interest. In particular, a combination of biodegradability and the application of renewable sources offers the chance to make plastics part of natural cycles. Biologically synthesized and degradable polymers such as PHB show very specific properties; however, these are of limited variability. Preparation of
plastics from different monomers, on the other hand, offers the possibility to create biodegradable polymers with tailor-made properties. At GBF, a series of polyesters based on renewable sources has been synthesized [1]. For example, 1,3-propanediol, exclusively used as a diol component, is obtained from a biotechnological process using glycerol, a surplus product of the oleochemical industry (> 1 million tons per year) [2-4]. Aliphatic dicarbonic acids can be derived from vegetable oils; for instance, by ozonolysis [5]. These types of polyesters, biodegradable through cleavage of ester bonds by hydrolysis, are especially appropriate to detect correla tions between the structure of polyesters and their biodegradability.
