New enzyme could revolutionise production of plastics
Friday, November 14, 2008 - 14:42
in Biology & Nature
In future, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA for short) - better known as acrylic glass - could be made from natural raw materials such as sugars, alcohols or fatty acids. PMMA is manufactured by polymerising methyl methacrylate (MMA). In a bacterial strain, scientists at the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have found an enzyme which could be used for the biotechnological production of a precursor of MMA...