Molecular design of biodegradable functional polymers, 3. Biodegradability and functionality of poly[(sodium acrylate)‐co‐(vinyl alcohol)]

As a design for a biodegradable functional polymer, compositionally homogeneous poly[(sodium acrylate)‐co‐(vinyl alcohol)] [P(SA‐co‐VA)], containing varying amounts of vinyl alcohol groups as biodegradable segments were prepared and their biodegradability and builder performance in detergent formulations were analyzed with respect to the successive vinyl alcohol length. It was found that the acrylate copolymers having more than 80 mol‐% vinyl alcohol content showed biodegradability. That is, P(SA‐co‐VA) having a vinyl alcohol chain length of more than about 5–6 is cleaved by PVA‐degrading microbes. This indicates that the vinyl alcohol blocks, which act as biodegradable segments, should be incorporated into the polymer chain in such a manner that they are accepted as substrates by the PVA‐degrading enzymes.