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Simultaneous Stereocomplexation of Polylactides during Polymerization of d ‐LA in the Presence of a PLLA Template
Author(s) -
Brzeziński Marek,
Michalski Adam,
Kost Bartłomiej,
Socka Marta,
Florczak Marcin,
Łapienis Grzegorz,
Biela Tadeusz
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201900571
Subject(s) - polymerization , polymer chemistry , ring opening polymerization , lactide , materials science , ethylene glycol , polymer , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering
Matrix polymerization is frequently used to obtain different materials with control over the microstructure and molecular weight of the final products; however, it is never employed to obtain stereoregular polylactide. Therefore, here, l‐ lactide polymerization is initiated with butanol or methoxy poly(ethylene glycol). Subsequently, the hydroxyl end groups of the obtained poly( l ‐lactides) (PLLAs) are blocked with acetic anhydride to avoid stereoblock formation during matrix polymerization in the presence of PLLA as a template. The polymerization is carried out in tetrahydrofuran at 80 °C under vacuum. During the course of the process, the simultaneous stereocomplexation of a PLLA matrix with growing poly( d ‐lactide) chains is observed, leading to the formation of petal‐in‐petal microparticles. This approach can provide a tool for designing stereocomplexed particles with different morphologies and allows for fine‐tuning of their properties.