Bioplastic Research Team

Our team aims to provide high-performance and specific functional bioplastic materials as environmental conscious polymeric materials. Particularly, paying attention to the biopolyesters produced by microorganisms, the advanced technology enable to bring out their potential and use as a practical plastic materials has been developed. We also employ various biomass substances to create novel polymeric materials, followed with biopolyesters. We achieve to construct the methodology of molecular design for bioplastics to predict their properties and functions, and new technology of efficient and precise bioplastic synthesis.

Research Fields

Chemistry / Materials Sciences / Biology & Biochemistry / Environment & Ecology

Research Subjects

• Design of Biopolyesters for Advanced Materials
• Synthesis and Molecular Design of Novel Biomass-Polymers
• New Advanced Methods for Biomass-Polymer Synthesis

Publications

1. Abe, H., Ishii, N., Sato, S., and Tsuge, T.:
   "Thermal properties and crystallization behaviors of medium-chain-length poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate)s"
   Polymer 53, 3026-3034 (2012).
2. Shinohara, Y., Umezawa, O., Abe, H., Daigo, I., and Yamasue, E.:
   "Special Issue on Growth of Ecomaterials as a Key to Eco-Society V PREFACE"
   Materials Transactions 53, 583-583 (2012).
3. Watanabe, Y ., Ichinomiya, Y ., Shimada, D ., Saika, A ., Abe, H., Taguchi, S., and Tsuge, T .:
   "Development and validation of an HPLC-based screening method to acquire polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase mutants with altered substrate specificity"
   J. Biosci. Bioeng. 113 , 286-292(2012).
4. Sato, S., Ishii, N.,Hamada, Y., Abe, H ., and Tsuge, T.:
   "Utilization of 2-alkenoic acids for biosynthesis of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates in metabolically engineered Escherichia coli to construct a novel chemical recycling system"
   Polymer Degradation Stability 97 , 329-336 (2012).
5. Hiraishi, T., Yamashita, K ., Sakono, M ., Nakanishi, J ., Tan, LT., Sudesh, K., Abe, H., and Maeda, M.:
   "Display of Functionally Active PHB Depolymerase on Escherichia Coli Cell Surface"
   Macromolecular Bioscience 12, 218-224 (2012).