Biopolymers and biocatalysis in sustainable development

Polymers can play a major role in the pursuit of sustainability and the design of chemical products and processes that are more eco-friendly, biodegradable, and less hazardous. This work explores recent research developments and applications in polymer science and their connections to sustainability
and green chemistry. Chapter topics include the use of enzymes for polymers, green sustainable building blocks, and green sustainable films and bioplastics. Scientists, engineers, educators, and students involved or interested in green polymer chemistry and sustainability will find this book useful.

H. N. Cheng (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is currently a research chemist at Southern Regional Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture inNew Orleans, where he works on projects involving improved utilization of commodity agricultural materials, green chemistry, and polymer reactions.
Prior to 2009 he worked for Hercules Incorporated where he was involved at various times with new product development, team and project leadership, new business evaluation, pioneering research, and supervision of analytical research. Over the years, his research interests have included green polymer
chemistry, agro-based materials, biocatalysis, pulp and paper chemistry, functional foods, polymer characterization, and NMR spectroscopy. An ACS Fellow (2009), a POLY Fellow (2010), and an AGFD Fellow (2018), he has authored or co-authored over 280 papers, 26 patent publications, co-edited 21
books, and organized or co-organized 40 symposia since 2000. He is currently (2020) the President-Elect of ACS and will serve as ACS President in 2021.

Richard A. Gross (Ph.D., Polytechnic University) holds Constellation Chaired Professorship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and is also a member of RPI's Departments of Chemistry and Biology as well as Biomedical Engineering. Previously he was on the faculty of University of Massachusetts
(Lowell) (1988?1998) and occupied the Herman F. Mark Chair Professorship at Polytechnic University (1998-2013). His research is focused on developing biocatalytic routes to biobased materials, combining chemical methods with cell-free and whole-cell biocatalytic systems to produce a large number of
new biobased materials. He has over 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals with approximately 26,000 citations, has edited 7 books, and has been granted or filed 26 patents. He has received numerous awards, including Presidential Green Chemistry Award in the academic category (2003), induction
into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2007), Turner Alfrey Visiting Professor (2010), POLY Fellow (2015), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bio-Environmental Polymer Society (2017) and the 2018 recipient of the Affordable Green Chemistry Award from the ACS.

Preface

Use of Enzymes in Polymers
Chapter 1: Green Pathways for the Enzymatic Synthesis of Furan-Based Polyesters and Polyamides, Fitrilia Silvianti, Dina Maniar, Laura Boetje, and Katja Loos
Chapter 2: ?-Glucan Phosphorylase-Catalyzed Enzymatic Reactions to Precisely Synthesize Non-natural Polysaccharides, Jun-ichi Kadokawa
Chapter 3: Enzyme Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Synthetic Polymers, Priya Katyal and Jin Kim Montclare
Chapter 4: Crystal Structures of Polyethylene Terephthalate-Degrading Enzyme Cut190 in Substrate-Bound States Reveal the Enzymatic Reaction Cycle Accelerated by Calcium Ion, Nobutaka Numoto, Narutoshi Kamiya, Fusako Kawai, and Masayuki Oda

Green Sustainable Building Blocks
Chapter 5: Cellulose-Derived Levoglucosenone, a Great Versatile Chemical Platform for the Production of Renewable Monomers and Polymers, Sami Fadlallah, Louis M. M. Mouterde, Gil Garnier, Kei Saito, and Florent Allais
Chapter 6: Bio-Based Aromatics: Aminobenzoic Acid Derivatives for High-Performance Bioplastics, Aniruddha Nag, Noriyoshi Matsumi, and Tatsuo Kaneko

Green Sustainable Films and Bioplastics
Chapter 7: Xylose Utilization for Polyhydroxyalkanoate Biosynthesis, Richard D. Ashby
Chapter 8: Polyhydroxyalkanoates for Biodegradable Mulch Films Applications, Yuchuan Tian and James H. Wang
Chapter 9: Physical Properties and Structures of Novel Bio-Based Films and Fibers Derived from Paramylon Esters, Hongyi Gan and Tadahisa Iwata
Chapter 10: Bioplastics from Vegetable Waste: A Versatile Platform for the Fabrication of Polymer Films, Roberto Simonutti, Giovanni Perotto, Laura Bertolacci, and Athanassia Athanassiou
Chapter 11: Design and Evaluation of Agro-Based Food Packaging Films, H. N. Cheng, Atanu Biswas, Roselayne F. Furtado, Carlucio R. Alves, and Qinglin Wu

Editors' Biographies
Author Index
Subject Index