Explain Biodegradable polymers

Biodegradable Polymers:

The large scale use of synthetic polymers has been based on their relative inertness to environmental processes so that degradation reactions leading to any change in the properties of the polymer during the service life of its product does not occur. It is due to this very property that management of polymeric waste has become so difficult that use of polymers has created acute environmental problems.

In biological systems, biopolymers degrade mainly by enzymatic hydrolysis nd to some extent by oxidation. In view of the disposal problem of polymer waste and for developing polymers for other safe uses in human system, biodegradable  synthetic polymers have been developed. These synthetic polymers mostly have functional groups prevalent in biopolymers and lipids.

Aliphatic polyesters are one important class of biodegradable polymers as several of them are commercially potential biomaterials.