Determination of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) using a combination of enzymatic spectrophotometry and alkaline hydrolysis

A combination of enzyme-based spectrophotometric analysis and alkaline hydrolysis was developed for the measurement of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). The principle of the determination is as follows: alkaline hydrolysis decomposes PHB into its monomer product 3-hydroxybutyrate, which is followed with enzymatic reaction catalyzed by 3-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase in the presence of nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide (NAD). The product, nicotinamide adenosine dinucleotide with hydrogen (NADH) results in a spectrophotometric signal at 340 nm. This method shows high performance characteristics with simple operations.