Rizzarelli Paola, Leanza Melania, Rapisarda Marco
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto per i Polimeri Compositi e Biomateriali (IPCB), ede Secondaria di Catania, Catania, Italy.
Mass Spectrom Rev. 2023 Nov 28. doi: 10.1002/mas.21869.
Biodegradable polymers have been getting more and more attention because of their contribution to the plastic pollution environmental issues and to move towards a circular economy. Nevertheless, biodegradable materials still exhibit various disadvantages restraining a widespread use in the market. Therefore, additional research efforts are required to improve their performance. Mass spectrometry (MS) affords a relevant contribution to optimize biodegradable polymer synthesis, to confirm macromolecular structures, to examine along the time the progress of degradation processes and highlight advantages and drawbacks in the extensive applications. This review aims to provide an overview of the MS investigations carried out to support the synthesis of biodegradable polymers, with helpful information on undesirable products or polymerization mechanism, to understand deterioration pathways by the structure of degradation products and to follow drug release and pharmacokinetic. Additionally, it summarizes MS studies addressed on environmental and health issues related to the extensive use of plastic materials, that is, potential migration of additives or microplastics identification and quantification. The paper is focused on the most significant studies relating to synthetic and microbial biodegradable polymers published in the last 15 years, not including agro-polymers such as proteins and polysaccharides.
由于可生物降解聚合物对解决塑料污染环境问题以及推动循环经济做出了贡献，它们越来越受到关注。然而，可生物降解材料仍然存在各种缺点，限制了其在市场上的广泛应用。因此，需要进一步的研究来提高它们的性能。质谱（MS）为优化可生物降解聚合物的合成、确认大分子结构、长期监测降解过程的进展以及突出其在广泛应用中的优缺点提供了重要贡献。本综述旨在概述为支持可生物降解聚合物的合成而进行的质谱研究，提供有关不良产物或聚合机理的有用信息，通过降解产物的结构了解降解途径，并跟踪药物释放和药代动力学。此外，它总结了关于与塑料材料广泛使用相关的环境和健康问题的质谱研究，即添加剂的潜在迁移或微塑料的识别和定量。本文重点关注过去15年发表的与合成和微生物可生物降解聚合物相关的最重要研究，不包括蛋白质和多糖等农业聚合物。
