Question

Which of the following is a biodegradable polymer ?
A. Polythene
B. Bakelite
C. PHBV
D. PVC

Answer 1

Hint: Natural polymers disintegrate by themselves during a certain period of time and hence are called biodegradable polymers . They are beneficial for the environment as they do not cause any pollution .

Complete step by step answer:
-Biodegradable synthetic polymers have been developed in the view of the disposable problem of the polymer waste and for preparing polymers for other safe uses in the human system .
-The reason these polymers are biodegradable is because they contain functional groups present in bipolymers and lipids which disintegrate by themselves during a certain period of time by enzymatic hydrolysis or by oxidation hence are biodegradable .
-Now we have to find out which polymer is biodegradable out of the given four polymers .
-Polythene is a polymer of ethene and does not contain any functional group , hence it is non - biodegradable .
-Bakelite has phenol and formaldehyde as its monomers , the resulting polymer so formed does not contain a biodegradable functional group hence it is also non - biodegradable .
-PHBV is poly - hydroxybutyrate - co - hydroxyvalerate which is a copolymer of 3-hydroxybutanoic acid and 3-hydroxypentanoic acid which are connected by ester linkages . Now since this molecule has ester as its functional group which is biodegradable hence this polymer is biodegradable .
-${\left[ { - O - CH(C{H_3})C{H_2} - COO - CH(C{H_2}C{H_3}) - CO - } \right]_n}$
-PVC is poly vinyl chloride which has vinyl chloride as its monomer . It is non - biodegradable since it has chlorine as its functional group .
So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Note: PHBV undergoes bacterial disintegration in the environment and hence has many uses. It is used in speciality packaging, orthopedic devices and in controlled release of drugs.
When a drug is enclosed in a capsule of PHBV , it is released only when the polymer is degraded in the body .