Artificial granule suspensions of long side chain poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate)

In vitro preparation of long side chain poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) artificial granule suspensions that mimic the 'as biosynthesized' inclusions in vivo is reported. Elastomeric poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) can be made into an aqueous suspension of noncrystalline, submicron-sized particles. Light-scattering measurements on these suspensions showed polymer particles in the range of 90-200 nm in diameter. High-resolution ¹³C-NMR studies demonstrated the noncrystalline character of the in vitro artificial granules. Upon drying at room temperature, the suspensions yielded a continuous film resulting from the coalescence of these polymers with a low glass transition temperature and low Young's modulus. Aqueous suspensions of poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate) are ideal substrates for enzymatic degradation studies because of their stability and purity, since they are self-stabilized. The range of poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) that can be converted to artificial granules and the methods of preparation are described.