Control of medium-chain-length PHA properties

本研究的重点是制备性能可控的中链长聚羟基烷酸酯（mcl - pha）的方法。mcl - pha是一种新型的可生物降解弹性体，由细菌从植物油和糖等可再生资源中生产。mcl - pha是纸张涂层、生物医学植入物和印刷碳粉等应用的理想选择，但由于生产困难，它们尚未商业化。我以前的发现基金通过反驳流行的教条解决了大部分这些问题，从而允许开发大大简化的发酵过程。目前的项目旨在进一步改进这一过程，并生产公斤数量的新材料，然后可以首次充分表征。目前的研究还旨在开发方法来控制它们在水中和/或人体中的降解速度。我之前的发现基金证明，这些材料可以通过生物活性蛋白与MCL-PHA纳米颗粒的共价附着而具有生物活性。生物活性MCL-PHA的模型生物活性化合物的缓慢释放将被检查。mcl - pha将其有趣的弹性体性能归功于结晶交联。通过共价交联和生物可降解性评估，这种材料将会变得更坚韧、更有弹性。这项研究的总体目标是使这类防水可堆肥热弹性体的生产在商业上可行，从而为未来的“生物炼制”化学工业增加另一组材料。

This research focuses on methods to produce medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) with controlled properties. MCL-PHAs are novel biodegradable elastomers produced by bacteria from renewable resources such as plant oils and sugars. MCL-PHAs are ideal for applications such as paper coating, biomedical implants and printing toners but they were not commercially available due to difficulties in their production. My previous Discovery Grant solved most of these problems by disproving prevailing dogma, thus allowing the development of a greatly simplified fermentation process. The present project aims at further improving this process and producing kg quantities of novel materials which can then be adequately characterized for the first time. The present research also aims to develop methods to control the rate of their degradation in water and/or the human body. My previous Discovery Grant demonstrated that these materials could be rendered bioactive by the covalent attachment of bioactive proteins to nanoparticles of MCL-PHA. The slow release of a model bioactive compound from bioactive MCL-PHA will be examined. MCL-PHAs owe their interesting elastomeric properties to crystalline cross-linking. Even tougher, more rubbery, forms of this material will be produced by covalent cross-linking and their biodegradability assessed. The overall objective of this research is to allow production of this class of water-resistant compostable thermoelastomers to become commercially feasible, thus adding another group of materials to the future "biorefinery"-based chemical industry.