Numerical simulation for enzymatic degradation of poly(vinyl alcohol)

We have studied the enzymatic degradation of polymeric compounds. We propose a mathematical model that governs the temporal change of the weight distribution with respect to the molecular weight. We deal with a particular case in which the molecules are degraded randomly, and develop a technique to solve the inverse problem to determine the degradation rate numerically. We illustrate our technique with an example in which GPC profiles of polyvinyl alcohol are introduced into the numerical computation. PVA is degraded by random oxidation of hydroxyl groups and following cleavage of carbon-carbon chain between two carbonyl groups/a carbonyl group and an adjacent hydroxymethine group either by hydrolase or aldolase.