Enzymes are capable of degrading synthetic polyisoprene – 13 Dec 2021

Enzymes are capable of degrading synthetic polyisoprene. The specific conditions for that have now been created and exploited by researchers at Martin Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry

(IPB).

Polyisoprene is the principal component of natural rubber and of many types of rubber also used in car tires, for example

Up until now, it has only been possible to degrade polyisoprene, with a composition similar to naturally occurring rubber