Fibers of microbial polyesters, poly(3-hydroxy butyrate) (PHB) and poly(3-hydroxy butyrate-co-3-hydroxy valerate) (HB-co-HV) were prepared by electrospinning method. The obtained fibers were evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and oil absorption. The formation of fibers was strongly dependent on a concentration of solution. At a low concentration, the fibers contained beads which is from aggregation of polymer due to short evaporation time. The fine fibers with 2-5 mm diameter were obtained at 20 wt% concentration. The contact angle measurement showed that the fiber had higher water contact angle than the film due to the lotus-like effect. Oil absorbency showed that the fiber had higher than the film. Specially, the HB-co-HV fiber which was spinned from 20 wt% absorbed 65% oil which is much higher than that of a normal polypropylene-based oil paper.

The effects of addition of non degradable polymers, polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) on the rate of enzymatic degradation of biodegradable poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) have been studied in term of surface structure. Since a component in multicomponent polymeric system has shown surface enrichment, PS and PMMA which have lower surface energy than PLLA were selected as a minor blend component (5 wt%). Enzymatic degradation was carried out at 37 ºC and pH 8.5 in the aqueous solution of Proteinase K. Two blend systems, partially miscible (PS/PLLA) and immiscible (PMMA/PLLA), showed the surface enrichment of 4 and 2 times of PS and PMMA, respectively. From the weight loss profile data, the slow degradation rate of both blend films was observed. This indicates that PS or PMMA domains which exist at surface act as a retardant of enzymatic attack.

To control degradation rate of biodegradable poly(lactide)s (PLA), the stereochemical PLAs with different ratios of d-lactide and l-lactide units were synthesized by the ring open polymerization and the their degradation kinetics were measured by a Langmuir film balance. The alkaline (pH=11) degradation of poly(l-lactide) (l-PLA) monolayer showed the faster rate at a surface pressure of 4 mN/m in the ranges from to 0 to 7 mN/m. However, the enzymatic degradation of l-PLA with Proteinase K did not occur until 4 mN/m. Above a constant surface pressure of 4 mN/m, the degradation rate was increased with a constant surface pressure. These behaviors might be attributed to the difference in the contacted area with degradation medium: alkaline ions need small contact area with l-PLA while enzymes require much bigger one to be activated due to different medium sizes. The stereochmical PLA monolayers showed that the alkaline degradation was increased with their optical impurities while the enzymatic one was inversed. These results could be explained by the decrease of crystallinity with the optical impurity and the inactivity of enzyme to d-LA unit.