Article Abstract:
One strategy to enhance the degradability on plastics involves the linking of readily degradable substituents in the polymer chemical structure. This rationale was employed to construct copolymers of styrene and lignin, resulting in a product more amenable to fungal degradation. Tests on various copolymer samples differing in lignin content showed that the white rot fungi could degrade the plastics at a rate dependent on the lignin content. These results demonstrate that copolymerization may be a useful strategy to produce compounds that are more easily degraded in the environment.
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Article Abstract:
Bisphenol A is a slightly tomoderately toxic compound found at significant levels in waste materials of manufacturing facilities which use it. A new bacterium, designated MV1, which degrades bisphenol A, was isolated from the wastewater of a plastic manufacturing facility. Characterization of the bisphenol A degrading pathway showed that the major intermediates are 4-hydroxy acetophenone and 4-hydroxy benzoic acid. Carbon balance data showed that 80% of the carbon in bisphenol A is converted to carbon dioxide or assimilated into MV1.
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Article Abstract:
A study of the biphenyl dioxygenase sequences for bacteria strains that could biodegrade polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) is given. The strains are classified into the LB400 and KF707 types. Both types reduce a broad range of PCBs but LB400-type strains are ineffective against di-para-substituted PCBs while KF707-type strains react strongly against di-para-substituted congeners. Both strains have four regions classified as I, II, III and IV in which specific protein sequences have narrow or broad PCB substrate specificity.
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