Author
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Greene, Richard |
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Imam, Syed |
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Submitted to: Pacific Basin Society Chemical International Congress Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/21/1997 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: In the last decade, there has been ever increasing interest from the research community, as well as the general populous, in biodegradable polymers. The processes which govern the eventual mineralization of polymer formulations are numerous and often related in extremely complex manners. For purposes of discussion, parameters influencing biodegradation will be arbitrarily assigned to three categories: polymeric properties, environmental factors or biological processes. Within each category, examples of research pertaining to more influential degradation events will be reviewed. Data will principally be of a biochemical nature, but selected non-biological degradation mechanisms will also be discussed. Finally, a working model for influencing and predicting the relative rate at which a polymer formulation will biodegrade is presented. |
