Fragmented plastic chain

Sulfur has a striking ability to catenate, or form chains of atoms. Oxygen s ability to form chains is very limited, with H202, 03, and the anions 02, 022-, and OG the only examples. Sulfur s ability is much more pronounced. It appears, for instance, in the existence of Ss rings, their fragments, and the long strands of plastic sulfur that form when sulfur is heated to about 200°C and suddenly... 

Very often, parallel to the pure enzymatic degradation, there is also degradation triggered by other influences like chemical hydrolysis, UV light or heat. These influences lead to polymer chain fragmentation, which follows a different mechanism to that of the biodegradation process. In contrast to the pure biodegradation process, these processes affect the bulk of the plastic piece. 

However, it becomes clear that the types of motion in the a-transition region of crosslinked polymers are more localized and include smaller chain fragments than in linear polymers. This situation is likely to be true for any network, although it depends on the length of intercrosslinked chains and especially on the width of chain length distribution. The same applied to plastic deformation. 

Right) When molten sulfur is heated above 150°C, an amorphous form of sulfur called plastic sulfur is formed as the Sg rings break and the fragments link to form long chains. 

Biodegradation of polymers is a complex process. Usually plastics are not water soluble and microorganisms that want to use the polymeric substrate as energy or carbon source have to excrete extracellular enz3ones being able to attach somehow to the plastics surface and cleave the macromolecular chains until the polymo- fragments become water soluble and so can be transported into the cells. There, the intermediates can be... 

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