Synthesis and properties of multi-armed enantiomeric polylactide-polycaprolactone block copolymers

Abstract

The degradability of degradable polymers is the most important property to determine the lifetime of commercial applications. To control degradation rate and thermal properties, enantiomeric block copolymers with lactide and hydroxyl terminated multi-armed polycaprolactone were synthesized. Thermal properties of various copolymers were determined by DSC and TGA measurements and the morphological changes during enzymatic degradation were identified by atomic force microscopy. The rate of enzymatic degradation of copolymers was faster than that of each homopolymer while the formation of the stereocomplex between the enantiomeric PLAs (L, D type) resulted in the improvement of thermal properties and retardation of enzymatic degradation.

Keywords:

• Enzymatic degradation
• multi-armed polycaprolactone
• polylactide
• stereocomplex

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2017R1D1A1B03032434) and Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) (20174010201460).