Hydrolytic degradation of α‐substituted polyglycolic acids: A semiempirical computational study

The two‐step hydrolyses of substituted polyglycolic acids are modeled by the semiempirical MNDO Hamiltonian using small molecule analogs to determine the effect of the alkyl substituents on the reaction and activation enthalpies. Reaction enthalpies remain reasonably constant up to three carbons, before becoming less exothermic for large alkyl substituents. Activation enthalpies show patterns that can be explained by steric effects. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.