| Abstract: | Copolymers of tartaric acid with various diamines were synthesized by a condensation polymerization technique. The synthesized polymers were characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, 1H-NMR, paper chromatography, TGA analysis, viscosity measurements and biodegradation studies. Elemental analysis, paper chromatography and spectroscopic studies confirmed polyamide formation. The activation energy values for various stages of decomposition were calculated from TGA analysis using Broido's method. The intrinsic viscosity ([η]), voluminosity (V E ) and shape factor (ν) were also computed using viscosity data. Microbiological observations of polymer-dependant growth studies using a soil bacterial isolate, suggested that one of these polymers was used as growth substrate and was therefore biodegradable. |
