Enzymatic Polymerization of Polyester

Nemanja Miletic, Katja Loos, and Richard A. Cross 

Polyesters are in widespread use in our modern life, ranging from bottles for carbonated soft drinks and water, fibers for shirts and other apparel, to the base for photographic film and recording tape. Household tradenames, such as Dacron , Fortrel , Terylene , Mylar , etc. demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of polyesters. In addition, of the biodegradable polymers employed in medical applications, polyesters are most often used. 

Biocatalysis in Polymer Chemistry. Edited by Katja Loos 

Copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim 

Enzymatic polymerizations are a promising strategy under study by many groups throughout the world to develop environmental friendly processes for polyester synthesis. 

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Abstract Transferases are enzymes that catalyze reactions in which a group is transferred from one compound to another. This makes these enzymes ideal catalysts for polymerization reactions. In nature, transferases are responsible for the synthesis of many important natural macromolecules. In synthetic polymer chemistry, various transferases are used to synthesize polymers in vitro. This chapter reviews some of these approaches, such as the enzymatic polymerization of polyesters, polysaccharides, and polyisoprene. 

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