Synthesis and Thermal Properties of Biodegradable Poly(ester‐urethane)s Based on Chemo‐Synthetic Poly[(R,S)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate]

A series of telechelic oligo(R,S)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate]‐diols (PHB‐diols) was synthesized from ethyl (R,S)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate (ethyl (HB)) and four different aliphatic diols, namely, 1,4‐butanediol, 1,6‐hexanediol, 1,8‐octanediol and 1,10‐decanediol by transesterification and condensation in bulk. The structures of the synthesized oligomers were confirmed by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and MALDI‐TOF mass spectroscopy. The use of 1,4‐butanediol results in an oligoester with hydroxyl functionality of approximately 2. In the case of the higher aliphatic diols, the number average functionalities were found to be lower than 2. These differences were ascribed to side reactions which occur during polymerization, yielding unreactive end groups. Other novel families of biodegradable poly(ester‐urethane)s were synthesized either from PHB‐diol alone, or PHB‐diol mixed with poly(ε‐caprolactone)‐diol (PCL‐diol), poly(butylene adipate)‐diol (PBA‐diol) or poly(diethylene glycol adipate)‐diol (PDEGA‐diol). In each case, 1,6‐hexamethylene diisocyanate was used as a nontoxic connecting agent. The homopolymers prepared from PCL‐diol, PBA‐diol and PDEGA‐diol were also synthesized for the sake of comparison. All the prepared copolymers possess high molecular weight with glass transition temperature (T_g) values varying from –54 to –23°C. Some of the prepared copoly(ester‐urethane)s are partially crystalline with melting temperatures (T_m's) varying from 37 to 56°C.