09593 IUPAC Gold Book - biodegradable 10.1351/goldbook.09593 09593 current 1 Qualifier for a substance or device that undergoes biodegradation. High molecular mass lactic acid-based polyesters are not degraded by animal cells or environmental micro-organisms. Therefore, the use of the term biodegradable is inappropriate and misleading, unless biodegradation under particular conditions is proved. The correct qualification is "hydrolytically degradable". As hydrolytic degradation leads to low molar mass end-products that can be biodegraded, excreted via kidneys and lungs after biomineralisation, or biorecycled by living organisms or micro-organisms, lactic acid-based polyesters are bioresorbable. bioresorbable https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09596 PAC, 2020, 92, 193. 'Nomenclature and terminology for linear lactic acid-based polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2019)' on page 206 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2017-1007) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09593/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09593/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09593/plain Citation: 'biodegradable' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.09593 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-06-20T15:11:36+00:00