Kasthuri J. and Poornima S
The bacterial isolate Acinetobacter junii CN1, of cashew nut industrial site with the ability to convert large quantities of low - cost substrates of agro-industrial wastes / resources into PHB was exploited. PHB produced in the present investigation was characterized for its molecular properties with FTIR and GC. The IR spectrum of Acinetobacter CN1 PHB when read in the range 500 - 4000 cm-1 revealed the peaks at wave number 3453, 2924, 2855, 1630, 1379, 1119 and 1028 cm-1 which were seemed to be identical with the standard PHB. The chromatogram of characteristic ester of the extracted PHB exhibited distinct spot with a retention time 0.650 min and the concentration was estimated as 80.20%. As for the present study, the retention time of the peaks for the standard (0.612 min) also remained almost the same. Further, the molecular weight of PHB was also determined 3.9 x 10 6 Da. The molecular properties of PHB have increasingly become an interest in forming a raw material for biodegradable plastics and can be employed as the most sustainable alternative to the petrochemical plastics.
