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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Utilization of Plasmonic and Photonic Crystal Nanostructures for Enhanced Micro- and Nanoparticle Manipulation
Published on: September 27, 2011
Manipulating the structure of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate (MCL-PHA) to enhance thermal properties and
Salim Gopi1, Marianna Kontopoulou1, Bruce A Ramsay1
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L3N6, Canada.
Abstract:
We investigated the effects of the structure of medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (MCL-PHAs) on their thermal properties and crystallization kinetics. The predominantly homopolymeric poly(3-hydroxydecanoate), P(3HD)-98, and the poly(3-hydroxydodecanoate), P(3HDD), exhibited sharp crystallization peaks upon cooling, with the latter exhibiting faster crystallization rates. A chemical modification strategy involving reaction with dicumyl peroxide and triallyl trimesate coagent was implemented to introduce branching and enhance the crystallization kinetics of P(3HD-98). Increases in the exothermic crystallization temperature by 8 °C and in the overall crystallinity of the P(3HD)-98 were observed upon chemical modification. The Avrami crystallization kinetic parameters obtained by fitting the isothermal crystallization data revealed a significant increase in the crystallization rate of the modified P(3HD)-98.
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