Amino acids and peptides are endogenous biomolecules that have long been considered to be completely environmentally friendly and bio-recyclable. Recently, Yan Xuehai, a researcher at the Institute of Process Engineering, developed a new type of biodegradable and bio-recyclable glass using amino acid or peptide derivatives as raw materials. This biomolecular glass is still in the laboratory research stage. The results were published in Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add8105).
Glass is ubiquitous in life and widely used in various fields. However, commercial inorganic glass, as well as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plexiglass, is not biodegradable, and its long-term presence in the environment will bring ecological hazards and social burdens. The researchers
subjected amino acid or peptide derivatives to a "melt-quench" process in an inert atmosphere, which, through precise control of heating and cooling rates, melted them into supercooled liquids before reaching their decomposition temperature, and eventually quenched them to form glass, effectively preventing crystallization . The biomolecular glass has excellent glass forming ability and optical properties, and is suitable for 3D printing additive manufacturing and mold casting. In addition, biomolecular glasses exhibit high biocompatibility, biodegradability and biological recycling characteristics compared with commercial glass and plastic materials widely used at present. The experiment confirmed that the biomolecular glass can be degraded and reused by the microorganisms in the compost. At the same time, it can be gradually degraded and absorbed when implanted subcutaneously in mouse models. Photo of biomolecular glass poured
by model (top); Photo of biomolecular glass added with fluorescent dye (bottom)
The research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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