Bento, A., Moreira, C.J.S., Correia, V.G. et al. (9 more authors) (2021) Quantification of structure–property relationships for plant polyesters reveals suberin and cutin idiosyncrasies. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 9 (47). pp. 15780-15792. ISSN 2168-0485
Abstract
Polyesters, as they exist in planta, are promising materials with which to begin the development of “green” replacements. Cutin and suberin, polyesters found ubiquitously in plants, are prime candidates. Samples enriched for plant polyesters, and in which their native backbones were largely preserved, were studied to identify “natural” structural features; features that influence critical physical properties. Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray scattering methods were used to quantify structure–property relationships in these polymeric materials. The degree of esterification, namely, the presence of acylglycerol linkages in suberin and of secondary esters in cutin, and the existence of mid-chain epoxide groups defining the packing of the aliphatic chains were observed. This packing determines polymer crystallinity, the resulting crystal structure, and the melting temperature. To evaluate the strength of this rule, tomato cutin from the same genotype, studying wild-type plants and two well-characterized mutants, was analyzed. The results show that cutin’s material properties are influenced by the amount of unbound aliphatic hydroxyl groups and by the length of the aliphatic chain. Collectively, the acquired data can be used as a tool to guide the selection of plant polyesters with precise structural features, and hence physicochemical properties.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Keywords: | plant industrial residues; ionic liquids; biopolymers; crystallinity; thermal resistance; quantitative NMR |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Dec 2021 16:53 |
Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2021 16:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c04733 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:181750 |