Open AccessPoly(lactic acid) Synthesis and Characterization
Author(s) -
Pauline Sanglard,
Vincent Adamo,
JeanPascal Bourgeois,
Thierry Chappuis,
Ennio Vanoli
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
chimia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2673-2424
pISSN - 0009-4293
DOI - 10.2533/chimia.2012.951
Subject(s) - lactic acid , lactide , biodegradable polymer , ring opening polymerization , polymerization , polymer , polymer chemistry , chemistry , characterization (materials science) , materials science , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , bacteria , genetics , biology , engineering
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a promising biodegradable polymer based on renewable resources. This paper describes scale-up studies to synthesize high molecular weight PLA (>100'000 g/mol) in five steps from commercial lactic acid. The first four steps of this process consist of synthesizing a highly pure precursor, lactide, which can be converted into a high molecular PLA by ring opening polymerization (ROP). We produced PLA with a molecular weight of 109'000 g/mol using this strategy.