Synthesis and characterization of biocompatible poly (L-lactide) using zinc (II) salen complex

Abstract

A biocompatible zinc (II) complex based on a tetradentate N,N,O,O-type salen ligand was synthesized, characterized and used for the solvent-free ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of L-lactide in bulk at 180 °C to prepare high molecular weight poly(L-lactide) (M_n: 82,600 Da; M_w: 140,000 Da; PDI: 1.70). Poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) was characterized using FTIR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, GPC, TGA, DSC, WAXD, and MALDI-ToF. Kinetic measurement was carried out and first-order behavior to monomer was observed. The k_app was found as 6 ± 0.001 × 10⁻⁴s⁻¹. The biocompatibility of the PLLA was confirmed by in vitro cytotoxicity against NIH/3T3 fibroblast cell line and can be used in biomedical applications.

Keywords:

• Biocompatible
• zinc (II) salen complex
• PLLA
• in vitro
• biomedical applications

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

Priyanka Rade gratefully acknowledges the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India for the award of DST-INSPIRE fellowship (IF160594) for her doctoral research.