Bacterial poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (first bioplastic)
Poli-β-hidroxibutirato bacteriano (primer bioplástico)
- Date
- 1926 · confidence high
- Place
- Pasteur Institute, Paris, France
- Credited to
- Maurice Lemoigne
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Lemoigne isolated from Bacillus megaterium a polymer of 3-hydroxybutyric acid that bacteria accumulate as a carbon reserve. It is the first known polyhydroxyalkanoate and the basis of bacterially produced biodegradable plastics.
Its significance as a thermoplastic polymer was not recognised until the 1950s–1980s; Lemoigne treated it as a reserve lipid.
What it led to
- PHAs as biodegradable thermoplastics (ICI's Biopol, 1980s)
- PHB production from sugarcane in Brazil (1990s)
- second-generation bioplastics from waste streams