RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science Bioplastic Research Team
Team Leader: Hideki Abe (Ph.D.)
Research Summary

Our team aims to provide high-performance and specific functional bioplastic materials as environmental conscious polymeric materials. Particularly, paying attention to the biopolyesters produced by microorganisms, the advanced technology enable to bring out their potential and use as a practical plastic materials has been developed. We also employ various biomass substances to create novel polymeric materials, followed with biopolyesters. We achieve to construct the methodology of molecular design for bioplastics to predict their properties and functions, and new technology of efficient and precise bioplastic synthesis.
Main Research Fields
- Chemistry
Related Research Fields
- Engineering
- Polymer chemistry
- Green/Environmental chemistry
Keywords
- Bioplastics
- Polymer synthesis
- Biomass resources
- Polymer/Textile materials
Selected Publications
- 1.
Kumagai, S., Hayashi, S., Katsuragi, A., Imada, M., Sato, K., Abe, H., Asakura, N., and Takenaka, Y.:
"One-Pot Synthesis of Marine-Biodegradable Poly(Ethylene Succinate)-Based Ester Amide Copolymers Containing Amino Acid"
ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. 6, 8339-8347 (2024) - 2.
Kumagai, S., Hayashi, S., Katsuragi, A., Imada, M., Sato, K., Abe, H., Asakura, N., and Takenaka, Y.:
"Improving the marine biodegradability of poly(alkylene succinate)-based copolymers"
Polym. J. 56, 419-429 (2024) - 3.
Mierzati, M., Miyahara, Y., Curial, B., Nomura CT., Taguchi, S., Abe, H., and Tsuge, T.:
"Tacticity Characterization of Biosynthesized Polyhydroxyalkanoates Containing (S)- and (R)-3-Hydroxy-2-Methylpropionate Units"
Biomacromolecules 25, 444-454 (2024) - 4.
Jeeply, IF., Goto, T., Sudesh, K., and Abe, H.:
"Biodegradable block copolymer as compatibilizer and blend component of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)-based polyester blends"
Eur. Polym. J. 196, 112314 (2023) - 5.
Ceneviva, LVS., Mierzati, M., Miyahara, Y., Nomura, CT., Taguchi, S., Abe, H., and Tsuge, T.:
"Poly(3-mercapto-2-methylpropionate), a Novel alpha-Methylated Bio-Polythioester with Rubber-like Elasticity, and Its Copolymer with 2-Hydroxybutyrate: Biosynthesis and Characterization"
Bioengineering-Basel 9, 228 (2022) - 6.
Sasanami, Y., Honda, M., Nishiki, H., Tachibana, K., Abe, H., Hokamura, A., and Yamada, M.:
"Purification and Characterization of an Enzyme that Degrades Polyamide 4 into gamma-Aminobutyric Acid Oligomers from Pseudomonas sp. TNN1"
Polym. Degrad. Stab. 197, 109868 (2022) - 7.
Goto, T., and Abe, H.:
"Substituent Effects on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Resorcinol-Based Semiaromatic Polyesters
Macromol. Chem. Phys. 223, 2100355 (2022) - 8.
Furutate, S., Abe, H., and Tsuge, T.:
"Thermal properties of poly(3-hydroxy-2-methylbutyrate-co-3-hydroxybutyrate) with narrow comonomer-unit compositional distributions"
Polym. J. 53, 1451-1457 (2021) - 9.
Jeepery, I.F., Sudesh, K., and Abe, H.:
"Miscibility and enzymatic degradability of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)-based polyester blends by PHB depolymerase and lipase"
Polym. Degrad. Stab. 192, 109692 (2021) - 10.
Imada, M., Takenaka, Y., Tsuge, T., and Abe, H.:
"Copolymers incorporated with b-substituted acrylate synthesized by organo-catalyzed group-transfer polymerization"
Polym. J. 53, 989-999 (2021)
Related Links
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Hideki Abe
- Team Leader
Core members
- Tomohiro Hiraishi
- Senior Research Scientist
- Masahiro Fujita
- Senior Research Scientist
- Yasumasa Takenaka
- Research Scientist
- Senri Hayashi
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Shin Inagaki
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- Sumito Kumagai
- Technical Scientist
- Ayan Yeosi Bartels-Ellis
- International Program Associate
- Naoko Nakata
- Technical Staff II
Contact Information
601 Main Research Building
2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)48-467-9394
Email: habe@riken.jp