Department of Chemical Engineering, BK21 FOUR Integrated Engineering Program, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 17104, Republic of Korea; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore 117585, Singapore.
Department of Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Nov;281(Pt 4):136533. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.136533. Epub 2024 Oct 12.
Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is an important class of renewable and biodegradable polymers that have recently attracted significant interest. However, the limitations of the physical properties of PHB, owing to its brittle nature, hinder its application in versatile polymers. In this study, we propose an efficient conversion of microbial PHB produced and recovered from methanotrophs to produce the oligomer PHB-diol. The PHB transesterification was conducted using different alcohols and the reaction conditions were optimized to obtain a liquid-like PHB-diol product, a low-molar-mass polyol with a molecular weight of 1000-1400 g/mol for polyurethane (PU) synthesis. A comprehensive characterization of PU samples made from PHB-derived polyol suggested that it could be a viable substitute for 50 wt% traditional petroleum-derived polyol in PU synthesis. In contrast to petroleum-based PU, the synthetic PU film made from microbiologically generated PHB-diol showed noteworthy self-healing ability with a healing efficiency of up to 91.08 % at moderate temperatures after a simple drying process. Self-healing ability is highly desirable and significant for the sustainable manufacturing of advanced materials from bioresources for a wide range of practical applications in electronic devices, coatings, biomedicine, and aerospace.
聚（3-羟基丁酸酯）（PHB）是一类重要的可再生和可生物降解聚合物，近年来引起了广泛关注。然而，由于其脆性，PHB 的物理性能存在局限性，限制了其在多功能聚合物中的应用。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种从甲烷营养菌中生产和回收的微生物 PHB 高效转化为低聚物 PHB-二醇的方法。使用不同的醇进行 PHB 酯交换，并优化反应条件，以获得一种类似液体的 PHB-二醇产物，这是一种低分子量聚醇，分子量为 1000-1400 g/mol，可用于合成聚氨酯（PU）。对由 PHB 衍生的多元醇制成的 PU 样品进行的全面表征表明，它可以替代 50wt%的传统石油基多元醇用于 PU 合成。与石油基 PU 相比，由微生物产生的 PHB-二醇制成的合成 PU 薄膜在经过简单的干燥处理后，在中等温度下具有高达 91.08%的显著自修复能力。自修复能力对于从生物资源可持续制造用于电子设备、涂料、生物医学和航空航天等广泛实际应用的先进材料具有高度的吸引力和重要性。
