Macromolecular Architecture-Nature as a Model for Degradable Polymers

Nature usually combines polymers with short degradation times with polymers having long degradation times in an energy and material optimized process involving hierarchical systems. Sometimes a natural system of polymers has evolved to degrade in a month, sometimes in many years. The building blocks of the plant and animal kingdom are biopolymers which are either oxidizable or hydrolyzable. In natural composites, combinations of the two are common, e.g., in wood. Current trends in polymer research and marketing of plastics indicate an increasing demand for the development of a diversity of degradable polymer products with a predetermined service-life. We identify four main routes to design degradable polymers. The goal is to tailor-make a material which is more susceptible to environmental degradation factors (e.g., hydrolysis, biodegradation, photooxidation). The most convenient route is to use cheap synthetic bulk polymers and add a biodegradable or photooxidizable component. A more expensive solution is to change the chemical structure by introducing hydrolyzable or oxidizable groups in the repetitive chain of a synthetic polymer. The third route to degradable polymers is to use biopolymers or derivatives of these where the bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoates are perhaps the most studied material of them all. The fourth route is to tailor-make new hydrolyzable structures e.g., polyesters, polyanhydrides, and polycarbonates.