ArticleGreen chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC2025
The discovery of new metagenomic urethanases utilising a novel colorimetric assay for applications in the biodegradation of polyurethanes.
Article in Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Advances in amidases and urethanases as depolymerization biocatalysts.Nature chemical biology · 2026Review
- Environmental Identification of Novel Enzymes for Polyurethane and Polyamide Degradation.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
The enzymatic molecular recycling of plastics is of increasing interest, where polymers are converted into monomers for reuse or upcycled into value added chemicals. Polyurethanes are an important class of synthetic hydrolysable polymers found in textiles as an elastane component, also known as lycra and spandex, with most post-consumer waste currently disposed of in landfill. Here we have identified three active novel urethane hydrolytic enzymes from a drain metagenome able to breakdown methylenedianiline-based elastane model substrates. In addition, we have established a new colorimetric assay, suitable for high-throughput applications using tyrosinases. For the urethanases identified, the reaction conditions and substrate scope were explored. Finally, the urethanases and assay were used with commercial fabrics, demonstrating breakdown of the polymer.
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Registered trials
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