Synthesis and characterization of a random terpolymer of L-lactide, ϵ-caprolactone and glycolide

✍ Scribed by Mangkorn Srisa-ard; Robert Molloy; Nipapan Molloy; Jintana Siripitayananon; Montira Sriyai

• Book ID: 104528809
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 134 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0959-8103
• DOI: 10.1002/pi.713

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A random terpolymer of L‐lactide (LL), ϵ‐caprolactone (CL) and glycolide (G) has been synthesized in bulk at 130 °C using stannous octoate as the coordination–insertion initiator. The terpolymer, poly(LL‐ran‐CL‐ran‐G), has been characterized by a combination of analytical techniques: GPC, ^1^H NMR, ^13^C NMR, DSC and TG. Molecular weight characterization by GPC shows a unimodal molecular weight distribution with values of
M
~n~ = 1.01 × 10^5^ g mol^−1^ and
M
~w~ /
M
~n~ = 2.17. Compositional and microstructural analysis by ^1^H NMR and ^13^C NMR, respectively, reveal a terpolymer composition of LL:CL:G = 74:15:11 (mol%) with a chain microstructure consistent with random monomer sequencing. This latter view is supported by the terpolymer temperature transitions (T~g~ and T~m~) from DSC and the thermal decomposition profile from TG. The results and, in particular, the conclusion that it is a random rather than a statistical terpolymer are discussed in the light of current theories regarding the mechanism of this type of polymerization.

© 2001 Society of Chemical Industry