Hydroxylation of polypropylene using the monooxygenase mutant 139-3 from Bacill...

• Author(s): Hasmann, Andrea ; Eberl, Anita ; Schneider, Konstantin ; Schoening, K.-U. ; Kaufmann, Franz ; Glieder, Anton ; Kovac, Janez ; Paulo, Artur Cavaco ; Wehrschuetz-Sigl, Eva ; Guebitz, G. M.
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/26104
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Oxidoreductase; Polypropylene; Polymer; Surface modification
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

Enzymatic hydroxylation of polypropylene (PP) was investigated in order to increase hydrophilicity. A mutant (139-3) of the P450monooxygenase from Bacillus megaterium expressed in E. coli DH5α was purified using anion exchange chromatography. Hydroxylation of PP fabrics led to a dramatic increase of hydrophilicity as indicated by a water drop dissipation time of below 1 s compared to the hydrophobic reference material. Likewise, a 4.9 cm increase of rising height was measured which remained consistent after 144 h of storage. Similarly, enzymatic hydroxylation of PP films lead to a decrease of the WCA from 104.6° to 77.3° with no major change after exposure to air for 6 days. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, an increase in normalized atomic concentrations of oxygen from 1.40 to 4.98% for the CO-inhibited and enzyme treated sample, respectively, was measured confirming enzymatic hydroxylation.