Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health 212 (2009) 61–66 Utilization of chemically oxidized polystyrene as co-substrate by filamentous fungi Oriana Motta a,Ã , Antonio Proto b , Francesco De Carlo b , Francesco De Caro a , Emanuela Santoro a , Luigi Brunetti a , Mario Capunzo a a Department of Educational Science, Chair of Hygiene, University of Salerno, via Ponte don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy b Department of Chemistry, University of Salerno, via Ponte don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy Received 21 May 2007; received in revised form 31 August 2007; accepted 25 September 2007 Abstract Atactic polystyrene, one of the most widely used chemical products, was subjected to novel chemically oxidative treatments able to trigger a great variety of physical and chemical changes in the polymer’s chains. The oxidized polystyrene samples, when analyzed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) clearly showed the formation of carbonyl groups and hydroxyl groups, which increased with the increase in the strength of chemically oxidative treatments. In fungal degradation tests deploying Curvularia species, the fungus colonized the oxidized samples within 9 weeks. Colonization was confirmed by microscopic examination, which showed that the hyphae had adhered to and penetrated the polymer’s structure in all the treated samples. Such colonization and adhesion by microorganisms are a fundamental prerequisite for biodegradation of polymers. r 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Keywords: Polystyrene; Oxidation; Degradation; Fungi; Curvularia Introduction Polymers have unique chemical composition, physical forms, mechanical properties and applications. Because of their structural versatility, polymers are widely used in product packaging, insulation, structural components, protective coatings, medical implants, drug delivery carriers, slow-release capsules, electronic insulation, tele- communication, aviation and space industries, sporting and recreational equipment and as building consolidants, etc. Both natural and synthetic polymers containing specific functional groups, as all materials of organic origin, are potential substrates for heterotrophic micro- organisms including bacteria and fungi. Aerobic biode- gradation of natural polymers has been well studied and many polymer-degrading microorganisms have been isolated and identified (Gu, 2003), whereas study of biological degradation of synthetic polymers is yet at a developing stage, probably because concern about degradation of the environment brought about by large amounts of discarded polymeric materials at the end of their useful life is relatively recent. In fact, for many years research was directed mainly toward developing indestructible materials of possibly infinite life or those that degrade very slowly in natural environments. Only ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.de/ijheh 1438-4639/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2007.09.014 Ã Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +39 089 963083. E-mail address: omotta@unisa.it (O. Motta).