Study on the higher-order structure and hydrogen bonding of biodegradable polymer by low-frequency vibrational spectroscopy

Abstract

Biodegradable polymer is preferred material to replace the conventional petroleum based polymer materials to protect the nature and conserve oil supplies. Information related to higher-order structure and hydrogen bonding among polymers can be observed in the low-frequency region (3.3-333 cm-1) using terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. THz spectra measurement of temperature-dependent investigation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) homopolymer and polymer blend of PHB/glycol chitosan with the blend ratios of (80/20) and (60/40) have been performed to investigate the change in higher-order structure and intermolecular hydrogen bonding formed by polymer blends of PHB and glycol chitosan. The THz spectra revealed that the peak at 82 cm-1 does not collapse even in the high temperature indicating the important role of hydrogen bonding interaction between poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and glycol chitosan in maintaining the higher-order structure of the PHB in its blending system.