Photo-biodegradable polymers degradation products

Four main types of polymer are currently accepted as being environmentally degradable. They are the photolytic polymers, peroxidisable polymers, photo-biodegradable polymers and hydro-biodegradable polymers. Commercial products may be composite materials in which hydrolysable and peroxidisable polymers are combined (e.g. starch-polyethylene composites containing prooxidants). The application, advantages and limitations of each group will be briefly discussed. 

The migration of PAEs from the polymers leads emissions to the environment during their production, transport, storage, manufacture, use, and disposal [8, 15, 40, 69]. Once in the different environmental compartments phthalates are subject to photo degradation, biodegradation, aerobic and anaerobic degradation and, thus, generally do not persist in the outdoor environment [8, 70]. 

Polyethylene oxide) (PEO) is a semicrystalline water-soluble polymer [64, 65], with a crystallinity that is very sensitive to the thermal history of the sample, making this property interesting as an indicator of degradation. Because it is biodegradable and biocompatible, PEO is a good candidate for environmental and medical applications [66-68]. The mechanisms of thermo- and photo-oxidation of PEO have already been investigated [69, 70] on the basis of IR identification of the oxidation products and are summarized in Scheme 10.1. 

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