Investigation of degradation properties of poly(ether- urethane)s containing cyclopeptide moiety in the presence of micrococcus bacteria

Biodegradable segmented poly(ether- urethane) (PEU) containing peptide based hard segment was prepared by two step polymerization method with PEG as a soft segment. In this study the micrococcus bacteria was isolated from contaminated unsterilized basic culture medium containing PEU. Degradation of PEU was investigated by incubating the polymer in culture medium containing micrococcus for 33 days at room temperature (RT). Then the degree of bacterial degradation of polymer was studied by weight loss measurement. The biodegradation of polymer was also evidenced by SEM, FT-IR and TGA technique. FT-IR analysis monitored chemical degradation of polymer. SEM micrographs of polymer revealed changes on the surface morphology. This evidences show that micrococcus is able to utilize the polymer as sole nutrition source of carbon. In this study we could isolate a PU degrading consentrum

Keywords:

Biodegradable , poly(ether- urethane) , cyclopeptide moiety , micrococcus bacteria