Enzymatic Degradation in Organic Solvents

When plastic is dissolved in organic solvents, it can be viewed as individual molecules (chemical structure and molecular weight), instead of regarding it as a polymer aggregate. Thus, physical properties of the plastic such as crystallinity and modulus of elasticity would no longer affect its biodegradability [52, 53]. However, in practice, selection of suitable enzymes with solvent mixtures (i.e., solvents with different polarities) is necessary to avoid inactivation of enzyme. 

FIGURE 25.3 Relationship of amino acid sequence in one of active site (lipase box) of serine hydrolases, that is, serine protease, lipase, PHB depolymerase. 

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