Biodegradation of Poly(ester urethane)s by Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Polyurethanes (PURs) are polymers that can be generated by a step-growth polyaddition<br />reaction of diisocyanates with polyols. The number of well-developed chemical procedures applicable to their<br />manufacture, and the diversity of chemical structures in which polyurethanes can be built, account for the<br />widespread use of these materials in the last few decades for both domestic and technical applications due to<br />its excellent mechanical and thermal properties and their high resistance to the climatic changes. Nevertheless,<br />its high resistance to degradation in aqueous media or bymicroorganism constitutes not only a great disadvantage<br />for its use as material in medical applications (vascular grafts, artificial heart diaphragms, valves, catheters…)<br />but also as one of the sources of the pollution of the environment. In this work, we report the degradation of<br />a commercial poly (ester-urethane) by microorganisms isolated from cedar wood. This is the first study that<br />demonstrates the degradation of polyurethane by isolated microorganisms from wood. Analyses were carried<br />out by Infrared spectroscopy.