Nature Inspired Solutions for Polymers: Will Cutinase Enzymes Make Polyesters and Polyamides Greener?
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Laboratory of Applied and Computational Biocatalysis, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy
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Department of Agrobiotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 20, 3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria
3
Division of enzymes & polymers, Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 20, 3430 Tulln an der Donau, Austria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: David D. Boehr and Keith Hohn
Catalysts 2016, 6(12), 205; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal6120205
Received: 31 October 2016
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Revised: 26 November 2016
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Accepted: 7 December 2016
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Published: 13 December 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enzyme Catalysis)
The polymer and plastic sectors are under the urge of mitigating their environmental impact. The need for novel and more benign catalysts for polyester synthesis or targeted functionalization led, in recent years, to an increasing interest towards cutinases due to their natural ability to hydrolyze ester bonds in cutin, a natural polymer. In this review, the most recent advances in the synthesis and hydrolysis of various classes of polyesters and polyamides are discussed with a critical focus on the actual perspectives of applying enzymatic technologies for practical industrial purposes. More specifically, cutinase enzymes are compared to lipases and, in particular, to lipase B from Candida antarctica, the biocatalyst most widely employed in polymer chemistry so far. Computational and bioinformatics studies suggest that the natural role of cutinases in attacking natural polymers confer some essential features for processing also synthetic polyesters and polyamides.
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Keywords:
cutinases; enzymatic polyesters synthesis; green polymer synthesis; enzymatic polymer hydrolysis
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ferrario, V.; Pellis, A.; Cespugli, M.; Guebitz, G.M.; Gardossi, L. Nature Inspired Solutions for Polymers: Will Cutinase Enzymes Make Polyesters and Polyamides Greener? Catalysts 2016, 6, 205. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal6120205
AMA Style
Ferrario V, Pellis A, Cespugli M, Guebitz GM, Gardossi L. Nature Inspired Solutions for Polymers: Will Cutinase Enzymes Make Polyesters and Polyamides Greener? Catalysts. 2016; 6(12):205. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal6120205
Chicago/Turabian StyleFerrario, Valerio, Alessandro Pellis, Marco Cespugli, Georg M. Guebitz, and Lucia Gardossi. 2016. "Nature Inspired Solutions for Polymers: Will Cutinase Enzymes Make Polyesters and Polyamides Greener?" Catalysts 6, no. 12: 205. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal6120205
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