Abstract
PDC, 2-pyranone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid, is the terminal chemical substance of lignin bio-degradation before streaming into the TCA cycle and has never appeared in organic chemical synthesis. Especially, its unique pseudo-aromatic ring with two -COOH is interesting because of possibilities to utilize PDC as the source of renewable and green plastics. During the course of a large scale production by using transformed bacterium bio-reactor, we found that PDC has exceptionally strong affinity for alkali metal ions and therefore common bacteria, such as E. Coli 0157, MRSA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were prohibited to grow. Because PDC is short-lived in neutral - basic pH solution due to ring-opening hydrolysis, hydrolyzable copolyesters possessing PDC nuclei in the main chain were prepared from the corresponding low molecular weight analog, bis(2-hydroxyethyl) 2-pyranone-4,6-dicarboxylate.
