Effects of White Rot Fungus Physisporinus sp., Isolated in Japan, on Styrene-butadiene Rubber

Abstract

A fungal strain Physisporinus sp. R20 was isolated in Chiba, Japan, and was selected for its ability of growing significantly in the medium containing natural rubber latex as a carbon source. When this strain was cultured in the medium containing styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) pieces as a carbon source at 25 °C for 1 month, significant hyphal growth was observed. FT-IR and ¹H NMR measurements of the R20 treated SBR revealed formation of the hydroxy group and the terminal CH₃ due to the bio-degradation of polyolefin chains. These changes supposed to be given by the effective activity of this strain on SBR.