Biopolymers Towards Green and Sustainable Development

Synthetic polymers are an imperative manmade discovery that has long been under environmental scrutiny due to their several detriments such as slow or nondegradation, diminutive re-usage, and severe milieu effects. A rough estimate indicates that 8300 million metric tons of virgin plastic are produced using synthetic materials to date, of which only 9% have been recycled until 2015. The detrimental effects of a synthetic polymeric waste product on surroundings can be slowed down by replacing it with biopolymers. Biodegradable polymers are materials that degrade due to the action of either aerobic or anaerobic microorganisms and/or enzymes. Environmental protection agency and PlasticEurope indicated that biodegradable polymers have shown a promising impact on the environment with a decline in the waste and toxic gas produced by either burying or incinerating synthetic polymers and their products. Moreover, the replacement of plastic products with bio-polymeric material for general, pharmaceutical, and agricultural use has also shown a significant decline in waste plastic in landfills and oceans. Furthermore, the potential market share of biopolymers growing gradually and is projected to generate 10.6 billion US Dollars by 2026. However, the potential biodegradable polymers market capital share has yet not reached its peak, due to the non-availability of specific regulatory standards and approval process. Thus, a complete replacement of synthetic polymers with biodegradable polymeric materials can be a paradigm shift for nature and human beings. This chapter acmes on the history of biodegradable materials and their impact on nature with their regulatory requirements to gain market capital share.

Synthetic polymers have been thriving in global industries over the past few decades due to their malleability, resilience, and economic value. But leaching of additives such as bisphenol-A, polybrominated diphenyl ether, and phthalates used in the manufacturing of polymeric products has raised serious concerns. However, the growing interest and investment in the development of biodegradable polymers could be a vital step toward reducing the impact of non-degradable polymers on the environment. Moreover, a combination of petroleum products with biopolymers can be a turning point for gradually replacing synthetic polymers to address or resolve these problems. In addition, a possible reduction in plastic polymer usage and manufacturing of products with materials that are less aggressive towards the environment can also reduce the impact of plastic on nature. Nature-derived biopolymers possess an enormous advantage over synthetic polymeric materials through cost-effectiveness, eco-, and user-friendly materials. Furthermore, the advanced applications of biopolymers in medical, tissue engineering, food industry, and fabrication of biotechnological products suggest that biopolymers are a boon for nature over synthetic polymers. This chapter discusses the advantage of biopolymers over synthetic polymers considering socioeconomic, human health, and environmental aspects. Additionally, the impact of petroleum-based polymeric materials on the environment compared to biodegradable polymers has been taken into consideration. The discussion is further extended to life cycle assessment, regulation, valorization, and utilization of polymer derived from waste with their potential use as inactive materials.

Synthetic polymers are an important class of pharmaceutical excipients that contribute significantly to the fabrication of different dosage forms. However, due to biodegradability concerns, the highly publicized disposal problem of traditional oilbased thermoplastics with a detrimental effect on the environment, has promoted the search for alternative biodegradable polymers. Biodegradable polymers are an ecofriendly, economic, and safe alternative to synthetic polymers due to their biodegradable nature and the source of origin. Biopolymers and biomaterials are available in abundance with different pharmaceutical and medical applications including drug delivery, wound healing, tissue engineering, imaging agents, etc. Moreover, biopolymers possess certain specific properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low antigenicity, functionality to support cell growth, and proliferation with appropriate mechanical strength. Biopolymers are obtained from sustainable natural resources and animal processing co-products and wastes. Polysaccharides such as cellulose and starch represent the major characteristics of the family of these natural biopolymers, while other biodegradable polymers such as bacterial cellulose and sericin are also used to develop biodegradable materials. Recent advancements and development in the field of natural polymers have opened up new possibilities for the rational engineering of natural gums and mucilage towards the expansion of functional excipients suitable for industrial and medical applications. This chapter highlights the potential sources of novel biodegradable polymers with recent expansion in the processing of different novel natural polymers to develop multifunctional excipients and valorization of waste biomass to produce biopolymers.

Polysaccharides are the most pervasive form of pharmaceutical excipients, consisting of diverse functional properties that play a vital role in sustaining life. Moreover, polysaccharides are well-known for several benefits such as nutritional benefits, effects on immunity, and delectability with biocompatibility. Natural polysaccharides are an assembly of monosaccharides’ long chain units bounded together with glycosidic linkage. In addition, polysaccharides are often quite heterogeneous, a slight alteration in the repeating unit produces distinct properties in biopolymers. Further engineered bio-based polymers produced to facilitate the regulated drug delivery system require information on structural conformation to meet the Food and Drug Administrative regulations. Furthermore, surface conformation and morphological imaging analysis are also of prime importance in the fabrication of drug delivery systems. Therefore, the amendment in the chemistry that brings about an alteration in the physicochemical property requires the use of various instrumental techniques for its characterization. In this chapter, a brief overview of compositional characterization techniques used for bio-based polymers is presented, focusing on analytical techniques that are generally applied. Moreover, the chapter promotes the application of suitable analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and varying chromatography in understanding the complex structure of polysaccharides. In addition, information on instruments used for surface morphological characterization of polymers is covered in this chapter.

Bio-based polymers offer a broad range of applications in pharmaceutical engineering. However, their assortment gets constrained owing to variations in structural conformation, which affects the thermomechanical properties during complex formulation. The thermomechanical property of pharmaceutically inactive ingredients provides insight into the thermal expansion, glass transitions temperature, softening point, compositional, and phase changes of biomaterials with different geometries on the application of constant force as a function of temperature. In addition, thermomechanical properties provide fundamental information on network chemical structure, crosslink density, rubbery modulus, failure strain, and toughness. Moreover, the structural composition of polysaccharides also affects the composite’s mechanical properties. Hence, analysis of thermomechanical properties provides valuable information that is applicable in different sectors including aviation, quasistatic loading, electroplating technology, micro-electric, construction, cosmetics, food packaging, and pharmaceutical products. This compilation highlights the basics of thermal and mechanical experiments on bio-based polymers with different fabrication for both technical and pharmaceutical formulations.

The success of an active pharmaceutical depends on how efficiently and precisely the polymeric dosage form can deliver it for effective treatment. Polymers are recognized as inactive pharmaceutical excipients and the backbone of the drug delivery system that plays an essential role in the design of dosage forms. Biodegradable polymer-based drug delivery system has gained significant attention among researchers and manufacturers in the last few decades, compared to synthetic non-biodegradable and their analog polymers. Synthetic biodegradable biopolymers demonstrate excellent efficacy in the design and development of drug delivery that enables the incorporation of active pharmaceuticals into the body. Despite the wide effectiveness of currently available polymers in the design of drug delivery systems, the quest for biocompatible, biodegradable, and easily accessible novel polymers with multifarious applications is still protractile. Due to safety and regulatory approval requirements in the development of novel inactive pharmaceuticals, the introduction of new excipients is much limited. However, the development of bio-based polymers with modification as required could be a valuable way to address the problem associated with synthetic polymers. In this chapter, an overview has been presented on the various applications of bio-based polymers ranging from oral conventional drug delivery to reduction and capping of metallic materials. Moreover, details are presented on the technology-based use of biopolymers in the fabrication of modified oral drug delivery, microneedles, packaging film, and biogenic synthesis of metallic nanoparticles.

Today, on average, we produce yearly about 300 million tons of plastic waste, equivalent to the entire human population weight around the globe. The singleuse plastics and plastic products are produced using high molecular weight polymers in combination with additives that could not be completely reprocessed. So far, only 9% of overall plastic waste produced has been recycled and around 12% has been incinerated while the remaining 79% has been accumulated as debris in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Biodegradability and recycling of plastics depend on various physicochemical properties including molecular weight, hydrogen bonding, Van der Waals forces, and electrostatic forces. Moreover, biodegradability depends on macromolecular chain distresses that not only affect polymer aggregates but also affect the structural and functional properties of plastic products. However, due to unlimited production and utility with distressing effects on the environment, it is deemed necessary to replace such non-biodegradable polymers used in the fabrication of plastics with biodegradable polymers. The use of biodegradable polymers in the fabrication of plastic products is a creative way to resolve the plastic disposal problem. In this chapter, a brief overview has been presented on the fabrication of biodegradable plastic using biopolymers to reduce its detrimental effects on the environment.

Textile configurations are derived from two major sources such as ancient handicraft and modern scientific inventions. Textile fabrication using polymeric fiber is one of the fastest-growing sectors since the 19th century and is currently the secondlargest manufacturing industry after information technology. Although polymers are predominantly used in the development of dosage forms, however recent devolvement in natural polymer chemistry reflects its association with the production of plastics, fibers, elastomers, etc. Innovation using natural polymer fibers-based textile could serve as an alternative capable of replacing synthetic polymer-based fibers. Polymers, especially fibers contribute significantly to the manufacturing of textiles. Moreover, copolymerization of fabrics fibers with excipients demonstrated potential for the development of materials useful in various biomedical applications. Furthermore, to understand the fundamental characteristics of polymeric fibers including structural composition, morphological features such as crystallinity, and orientation, a comprehensive skill is necessary. This chapter discusses the basic materials used in the fabrication of textile products, with emphasizes on bio-based polymers as an alternative to synthetic polymers in the production of fabrics.

Progress, innovation, and development of new chemical entities fetched new defies in the drug delivery arena, and also put forward several issues including bioavailability with intestinal metabolism or efflux mechanism. However, some excipients such as surfactants have demonstrated improvement in drug bioavailability. Thus, these excipients can no longer be considered inert and require attention from a pharmaceutical regulatory perception. Biopolymers and their derivatives are gaining attention in pharmaceutical manufacturing due to their biodegradability and compatibility. However, based on the Food and Drug and Administration (FDA) guidelines, the manufacturers are required to evaluate their pharmacokinetic and toxicological properties. Several methods including Rule-of-Five and Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BCS) are used for early pharmacokinetic prediction of active and inactive pharmaceutical ingredients. Although polymers differ from therapeutic agents, similar methods can be smeared for the understanding of the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion profile of bio-based pharmaceutical excipients. This chapter explores pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics information of biopolymers used in the design, and development of several pharmaceutical formulations.

Recently bibliometric analysis has gained significant importance in quantitative assessment for analyzing scientific outputs, the linkage between universities, authors, funding organizations, and development enactment, with several other applications. Therefore, the scientific community needs an advanced tool to analyze a wide range of scientific data with precision and accuracy. This chapter aims to provide up-to-date bibliometric analysis on bio-based pharmaceutical excipients including network and overlay visualization for publication from 2000 to 2021, retrieved from the Scopus database. The documents considered were original research and conference proceedings numbering 2923. The bibliometric analysis revealed that research interests in bio-based are expanding throughout the globe, as a potential source of biomaterial for allied pharmaceutical sciences.