Science and Education Publishing Journal of Polymer and Biopolymer Physics Chemistry 2373-3411 4 1 2016 4 16 Synthesis and Characterization of Branched Polyester: Thermal and Microbial Degradation Studies 16 27 EN Benarbia Abderrahim Laboratory Chemistry of Applied and Environmental, Faculty of Sciences, Mohammed Premier University, Oujda, Morocco Elidrissi Abderrahman Aqil Mohamed Amyay Aicha Bellaouchi Reda Asehraou Abdeslam Jalal Isaad Tahani abdesselam JPBPC2016413 10.12691/jpbpc-4-1-3 2016 1 11 2016 2 2 2016 4 14 A branched polyesters was synthesized using ethylene glycol, adipic acid and glycerol. It was characterized by FTIR, 1H and 13C-NMR, GPC, TGA/DTA. According to TGA analysis it was found that the mass loss is accomplished in two stages, the lower one was slightly distinguished in TGA. The Flynn-Ozawa-Wall method was applied for the principal reaction and the activation energies for all values of α were determined. The biodegradation process was also investigated in liquid culture media using two strains of Penicillium sp S1 and Aspergillus sp S2 which were isolated from the discharge of Oujda city (Morocco). According to the growth curves, it was found that the Penicillium sp S1 and Aspergillus sp S2 used the polyester as source of carbon. We have noted using FTIR spectra a decrease of the band intensity at δ =1170 cm-1 characteristic of the stretching vibration of C–O–C and also a decrease of the ester band group. The results obtained were compared with those of polyesters biodegradation reported in our previous work [27,28,29]. We have also proposed an enzyme degradation mechanism and hypothesis for an empirical mathematical formula giving the relationship between the thermal degradation and the biodegradation rate constant of the polyester.