Japanese researchers recently reported that they have improved the functionality of plant-based plastics through a new method of designing polymer materials. At the same time, waste plastics after use can be degraded into fertilizers and reused. Related papers have been published in the British Journal of Polymer Chemistry.
The University of Tokyo recently issued a press release saying that previous research has found that the mixture of isosorbide and urea, which is the decomposition product of isosorbide and urea, can be used as a fertilizer by reacting isosorbide polycarbonate (PIC) extracted from glucose with ammonia. However, PIC itself is relatively fragile. If it is to be used as a polymer material, its function needs to be improved to make it more practical.
In this study, researchers from institutions such as the University of Tokyo and Chiba University used polymer materials to design a new method to allow a plant-derived mannitol and isosorbide to form a copolymer, which shows better Excellent heat resistance, and degrades faster than PIC. The researchers mixed the degradation products of this copolymer, such as isosorbide, with urea, and used them in cultivation experiments of the most common model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, and confirmed that these degradation products can function as fertilizers.
The bulletin said that the copolymer synthesized this time uses sugar from plants as a raw material, which is renewable and is expected to be used as bioengineering plastics in the future. The new approach to polymer material design in this study could help tackle the problem of plastic waste and food.
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