Novel copolyesters based on poly(alkylene dicarboxylate)s: 1. Thermal behavior and biodegradation of aliphatic-aromatic random copolymers

In order to improve the thermal and mechanical properties of the poly(butylene 1,12-dodecanedioate), some novel aliphatic-aromatic random copolyesters have been prepared by starting from 1,4-butanediol and different molar ratio of 1,12-dodecanedioc acid and terephthalic acid. The samples were characterized by ¹H NMR and the molecular structure was correlated with the crystalline phase present, the level of crystallinity, the glass transition temperature, the mechanical behavior, and the biodegradability. In particular, the copolymer containing the 70 mol% of PBT repeating units notably improves the thermal and mechanical properties of the poly(butylene 1,12-dodecanedioate) towards those of PBT and maintains a very high thermal stability, but loses the biodegradability of the poly(alkylene dicarboxylate). Therefore, for this class of aliphatic-aromatic copolymers the chemical composition must be carefully chosen to reach a compromise between good thermal and mechanical performances and biodegradability, according to the necessity.     

生物可降解共聚物聚丁二酸/对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯(PBST)的序列结构及结晶性研究

制备了高分子量的聚丁二酸丁二醇酯,并通过与对苯二甲酸二甲酯的无规共聚调节其生物可降解性及力学性能,得到了具有优良机械性能和不同生物降解速度的一系列共聚物,并对共聚物序列结构、热力学性能、结晶性进行了研究.结果表明,该共聚物为无规共聚物,PBS和PBT分别结晶.共聚物的结晶熔点符合无规共聚物的Flory方程.     

Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene fumarate)s

A series of aliphatic biodegradable polyesters modified with fumaric residues was synthesized by transesterification in the melt of dimethyl succinate, dimethyl fumarate and 1,4-butanediol. The amount of unsaturation, originating from the fumaric acid residues in the polyesters chains was varied from 5 to 20 mol%. The molecular structure and composition of the polyesters were determined by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The effects of the content of fumaric residues on the thermal and thermo-oxidative properties of the synthesized polyesters were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis. The degree of crystallinity was determined by DSC and wide angle X-ray scattering. The degrees of crystallinity of the unsaturated copolyesters were reduced, while the melting temperatures were higher in comparison to poly(butylene succinate). Biodegradation of the synthesized copolyesters was estimated in enzymatic degradation tests using a buffer solution with Rhizopus arrhizus lipase at 37 °C. Although the degree of crystallinity of the copolyesters decreases slightly with increasing unsaturation, the biodegradation is not enhanced suggesting that not only the chemical structure and molecular stiffness but also the morphology of the spherulites has an influence on the biodegradation properties. The highest biodegradability was observed for the copolyesters containing 5 and 10 mol% of fumarate units.     

Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable aliphatic copolyesters with poly(ethylene oxide) soft segments

A series of multiblock poly(ether-ester)s based on poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) as the hard segments and hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as the soft segments was synthesized with the aim of developing degradable polymers which could combine the mechanical properties of high performance elastomers with those of flexible plastics. The aliphatic poly(ether-ester)s were synthesized by the catalyzed two-step transesterification reaction of dimethyl succinate, 1,4-butanediol and α,ω-hydroxyl terminated poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO, = 1000 g/mol) in bulk. The content of soft PEO segments in the polymer chains was varied from about 10 to 50 mass%. The effect of the introduction of the soft PEO segments on the structure, thermal and physical properties, as well as on the biodegradation properties was investigated. The composition and structure of these aliphatic segmented copolyesters were determined by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The molecular weights of the polyesters were verified by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), as well as by viscometry of dilute solutions and polymer melts. The thermal properties were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The degree of crystallinity was determined by means of DSC and wide-angle X-ray scattering. A depression of melting temperature and a reduction of crystallinity of the hard segments with increasing content of PEO segments were observed. Biodegradation of the synthesized copolyesters, estimated in enzymatic degradation tests in phosphate buffer solution with Candida rugosa lipase at 37 °C was compared with hydrolytic degradation in the buffer solution. The weight losses of the samples were in the range from 2 to 10 mass%. GPC analysis confirmed that there were significant changes in molecular weight of copolyesters with higher content of PEO segments, up to 40% of initial values. This leads to conclusion that degradation mechanism of the poly(ether-ester)s based on PEO segments occurs through bulk degradation in addition to surface erosion.     

Synthesis and characterization of multiblock copolyesters containing poly(dimethylsiloxane) in the soft segments

Synthesis and thermal properties of poly(aliphatic/aromatic-ester) copolymers containing additionally poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) chains in the soft segments are discussed. A two step method of transesterification and polycondensation from the melt was carried out in a presence of magnesium-titanate catalyst. An aliphatic dimer fatty acid was used as a component of the soft segments while poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) constituted the hard blocks. Effectiveness of the incorporation of PDMS into polymer chain was confirmed by the Soxhlet extraction and infrared spectroscopy of an excess of 1,4-butane diol destilled off from the polycondensation reaction. Multiblock copolymers showed microphase separation as determined by differential scanning calorimetry. Incorporation of a small amount of PDMS (up to 14.5 wt.-%) into polymer chain containg low concentration of hard segments of PBT lead to decrease in crystallinity of such copolymers. This may indicate that semicrystalline PBT are dissolved in the amorphous matrix of the soft segments.     

Effects of comonomer sequential structure on thermal and crystallization behaviors of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate‐co‐butylene terephthalate)s

In this work, new investigations on the effect of comonomer sequential structure on the thermal and crystallization behaviors and biodegradability have been implemented for the biodegradable poly(butylene succinate‐co‐butylene terephthalate) (PBST) as well as aliphatic poly(butylene succinate) (PBS). At first, these copolyesters were efficiently synthesized from dimethyl succinate and/or dimethyl terephthalate and 1,4‐butanediol via condensation polymerization in bulk. Subsequently, their molecular weights and macromolecular chain structures were analyzed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. By means of differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and wide‐angle X‐ray diffractometer (WAXD), thermal and crystallization behaviors of these synthesized aromatic–aliphatic copolyesters were further explored. It was demonstrated that the synthesized copolyesters were revealed to have random comonomer sequential structures with thermal and crystallization properties strongly depending on their comonomer molar compositions, and that crystal lattice structures of the new crystallizable copolyesters shifted from the monoclinic crystal of semicrystalline PBS to triclinic lattice of the poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) with increasing the terephthalate comonomer composition, and the minor comonomer components were suggested to be trapped in the crystallizable component domains as defects. In addition, the enzymatic degradability was also characterized for the copolyesters film samples. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 1635–1644, 2006     

Biodegradable aliphatic/aromatic copolyesters based on terephthalic acid and poly(L-lactic acid): Synthesis, characterization and hydrolytic degradation

<正>Biodegradable aliphatic/aromatic copolyesters,poly(butylene terephthalate-co-lactate)(PBTL) were prepared via direct melt polycondensation of terephthalic acid(TPA),1,4-butanediol(BDO) and poly(L-lactic acid) oligomer(OLLA). The effects of polymerization time and temperature,as well as aliphatic/aromatic moiety ratio on the physical and thermal properties were investigated.The largest molecular weight of the copolyesters was up to 64100 with molecular weight distribution index of 2.09 when the polycondensation was carried out at 230℃for 6 h.DSC,XRD,DMA and TGA analysis clearly indicated that the degree of crystallinity,glass-transition temperature,melting point,decomposition temperature, tensile strength,elongation and Young's modulus were influenced by the ratio between TPA and OLLA in the final copolyesters.Hydrolytic degradation results demonstrated that the incorporation of biodegradable lactate moieties into the aromatic polyester could efficiently improve hydrolytic degradability of the copolymer even though it still had many aromatic units in the main chains.     

STUDIES ON THERMOTROPIC LIQUID CRYSTALLINE COPOLYESTERS:POLY (ARYLENE TEREPHTHALATECO-HEXAMETHYLENE TEREFHTHALATE)

A series of copolyesters based on terephthaloyl chloride, hexamethylene glycol and hydroquinone or chlorohydroquinone were prepared. The copolymers showed composition-dependent liquid crystalline properties as verified by visual observation of stir-opalescence, polarizing microscope and DSC. The copolyesters with aromatic diol contents over a certain extent (x≥0.2) were thermotropic with wide liquid crystalline temperature ranges. Comparing with the copolyesters based on butylene glycol or ethylene glycol, the minimum fraction of aromatic diol (x value) used to get the liquid crystallinity for all these copolyesters is around 0.2 regardless of the chain lengths of aliphatic glycols. ~1H-NMP studies revealed that copolyesters have microstructure of block sequence distribution and the mesogenie segments shorter than triad with three phenyl nuclei will not provide the liquid crystallinity.     

Novel poly(butylene succinate-co-lactic acid) copolyesters: Synthesis, crystallization, and enzymatic degradation

A series of aliphatic biodegradable poly(butylene succinate-co-dl-lactide) (PBSLA) copolyesters were synthesized with the aim of improving the degradation rate of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) by incorporation of dl-oligo(lactic acid) (OLA) into the PBS molecular chains. The composition and sequential structure of the aliphatic copolyesters were investigated by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy. The crystallization behaviors, the crystal structure and morphology of the copolyesters were investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and polarizing optical microscopy (POM), respectively. The results indicate that the crystallization of the copolyesters was restricted by the incorporation of lactide (LA) units, which further tuned the mechanical properties of the copolyesters. The copolyesters could form complete spherulites and exhibit the same crystal structure as that of PBS. Enzymatic study indicated that the copolyesters with higher content of LA units degraded faster, and the degradation began in the amorphous regions and then in the crystalline regions. The morphology and the resulting degradation products of the copolyesters were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ¹H NMR analysis during the degradation process.     

Synthesis of high‐molecular‐weight aliphatic–aromatic copolyesters from poly(ethylene‐co‐1,6‐hexene terephthalate) and poly(L‐lactic acid) by chain extension

A series of aliphatic–aromatic multiblock copolyesters consisting of poly(ethylene‐co‐1,6‐hexene terephthalate) (PEHT) and poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) were synthesized successfully by chain‐extension reaction of dihydroxyl terminated PEHT‐OH prepolymer and dihydroxyl terminated PLLA‐OH prepolymer using toluene‐2,4‐diisoyanate as a chain extender. PEHT‐OH prepolymers were prepared by two step reactions using dimethyl terephthalate, ethylene glycol, and 1,6‐hexanediol as raw materials. PLLA‐OH prepolymers were prepared by direct polycondensation of L ‐lactic acid in the presence of 1,4‐butanediol. The chemical structures, the molecular weights and the thermal properties of PEHT‐OH, PLLA‐OH prepolymers, and PEHT‐PLLA copolymers were characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR, GPC, TG, and DSC. This synthetic method has been proved to be very efficient for the synthesis of high‐molecular‐weight copolyesters (say, higher than M_w = 3 × 10⁵ g/mol). Only one glass transition temperature was found in the DSC curves of PEHT‐PLLA copolymers, indicating that the PLLA and PEHT segments had good miscibility. TG curves showed that all the copolyesters had good thermal stabilities. The resulting novel aromatic–aliphatic copolyesters are expected to find a potential application in the area of biodegradable polymer materials. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 5898–5907, 2009     

Syntheses and Physical Characterization of Biodegradable Poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene itaconate) Copolymers

Biodegradable aliphatic poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene itaconate) (PBSBIs) from succinic acid, itaconic acid and 1,4-butanediol were synthesized through a polycondensation with titanium tetraisoproxide (TTP), diphenylphosphinic acid (DPPA) as the novel co-catalysts in this article. By means of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR), it was revealed that the PBSI copolyesters had number average molecular weights M_n higher than 3.0 × 10⁴, and the composition of copolyesters was in good agreement with that expected from the feed composition of the reactants. With respect to thermal properties, melting temperature (T_m), crystallization temperature (T_c), and crystallinity (X_c) were found to decrease with increasing the BI/BS unit molar ratio up to 0.67. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the PBSIs copolyesters had the same crystal structure as the PBS. While increasing the BI/BS unit molar ratio up to 1, the copolyesters would change into insolubility and inmelt crosslinked elastomer. Otherwise, the observation of polarizing optical microscope (POM) showed that the spherulite size of copolyesters gradually became smaller with the increasing of BI unit content. Experimental results also showed that the contents of itaconic acid had an important effect on the biodegradable performance of copolyesters.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Block Copolymers of Poly(Butylenes Terephthalate-Co-Adipate)

The block copolyesters of poly(butylene terephthalate)(PBT) and poly(butylene adipate)(PBA) were prepared by a novel two-stage method. In the first stage, high molecular weight PBT and PBA were melt mixed in the presence of 1,4-butanediol at 275 °C. In the second stage, vacuum was applied to raise the molecular weight. The extent of transesterification was controlled by the proportion of 1,4-butanediol. The sequence distribution and the thermal properties of the block copolyesters were characterized by NMR and DSC respectively.     

生物可降解聚丁二酸/苯基丁二酸丁二醇酯系列共聚物的合成及其结晶行为

合成了一系列聚丁二酸/苯基丁二酸丁二醇共聚酯(PBSBS),利用DSC、1H-NMR和X射线等测试手段对共聚物组成、热力学性能、结晶性能、等温结晶行为进行了表征和研究.结果表明,含苯基的共聚单元的引入显著改变了聚丁二酸丁二醇酯(PBS)的热力学性能4,利用Hoffman-Week曲线得到的共聚物平衡熔点随共聚组分含量的增加显著降低,玻璃化转变温度则明显升高,结晶熔点符合无规共聚物的Flory方程.此外,利用Avrami方程对均聚物PBS以及共聚物PBSBS-10分别进行了等温结晶行为研究,结果表明共聚使结晶速率降低,PBS和PBSBS-10的Avrami指数分别介于2.8~3.0和2.7~2.9之间,结晶方式为三维生长异相成核,X射线测试结果表明共聚不影响晶体结构.     

Thermal and mechanical properties of mandelic acid‐copolymerized poly(butylene succinate) and poly(ethylene adipate)

Phenyl side chains were introduced to poly(butylene succinate) and poly(ethylene adipate) by the polymerization of the respective monomers in the presence of mandelic acid. The increasing content of the phenyl side chains decreased the melting temperature and the crystallinity but increased the glass‐transition temperature of the aliphatic polyesters. The phenyl side branches reduced the crystallinity of poly(butylene succinate) more significantly than the ethyl or n‐octyl side branches did. The tensile strength, elongation, and tear strength of poly(ethylene adipate) decreased with an increase in the content of mandelic acid units. However, the increasing content of mandelic acid units enhanced the elongation and tear strength of poly(butylene succinate) considerably without a notable deterioration of tensile strength. The biodegradability of the copolyesters was increased as a result of the introduction of more mandelic acid units due to the decrease in the crystallinity. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1504–1511, 2000     

生物可降解聚丁二酸/甲基丁二酸丁二酯系列共聚物的合成和表征

摘要合成了一系列聚丁二酸/甲基丁二酸丁二醇共聚酯(PBSM), 利用DSC, ¹H NMR和X射线衍射等方法对共聚物组成、 热学性能、 结晶性能、 等温结晶行为进行了研究. 结果表明, 引入甲基丁二酸共聚单元较为显著地改变了聚丁二酸丁二酯(PBS)的热学性能, 利用Hoffman\|Weeks方程得到的共聚物平衡熔点随共聚物的组分含量增加而降低, 玻璃化转变温度亦有所降低, 熔点则符合无规共聚物的Flory方程. 此外, 利用Avrami方程分别研究了均聚物PBS及共聚物PBSM-20的等温结晶行为, 结果表明, 在所研究的温度范围内, 聚酯结晶速率随温度升高而降低, PBS和PBSM\-20的Avrami指数分别介于2.8~3.0和2.7~3.0之间, 结晶方式为三维生长异相成核, 而X射线衍射测试结果表明晶体结构几乎不变.     

Synthesis and characterization of functional aliphatic copolyesters

Functional aliphatic copolyesters of succinic acid (SA) and citric acid (CA) were synthesized via direct copolycondensation in the presence of 1,4‐butanediol, with titanium(IV) butoxide as a catalyst. The effects of the comonomer and comonomer ratio on the polycondensation and the melting and glass‐transition temperatures were investigated. The melting temperature was very sensitive to the molar ratio of the SA–CA comonomer units. The chain extension of this poly(butylene succinate citrate) was carried out with hexamethylene diisocyanate. The intrinsic viscosity, crystallinity percentage, and rheological properties of these copolyesters were also studied. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 3232–3239, 2002     

Thermal properties of poly(butylene oxalate) copolymerized with azelaic acid

Poly(butylene oxalate) (PBO) and poly(butylene oxalate/butylene azelate) random copolymers (PBOBAz) of various compositions were synthesized in bulk and characterized in terms of chemical structure and thermal properties. The thermal behavior was examined by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. All copolymers were found to be partially crystalline and thermally stable up to about 290 °C. The main effect of copolymerization was a decrease in melting and glass transition temperatures with respect to PBO homopolymer. The pure crystalline phase characteristic of PBO was evidenced by means of X-ray measurements in all the copolymers under investigation. The fusion temperatures appeared to be well correlated to composition by Baur's equation.Amorphous samples were obtained after melt quenching and showed a monotonic decrease of glass transition temperatures as the content of the flexible butylene azelate units is increased. Fox equation described well the T_g-composition data. Lastly, the overall crystallization rate of PBO was found to decrease regularly with increasing butylene azelate unit content.     

聚(丁二酸丁二酯-co-丁二酸丙二酯)的等温结晶行为研究

以1,4-丁二酸、1,4-丁二醇和1,3-丙二醇为原料通过直接熔融缩聚法合成了聚丁二酸丁二酯(PBS),聚丁二酸丙二酯(PPS)和聚(丁二酸丁二酯-co-丁二酸丙二酯)(PBSPS)等脂肪族聚酯.利用1H-NMR,WAXD,DSC和POM等研究了聚酯的结晶结构和结晶动力学过程等结晶行为.PBSPS的结晶晶型与PBS一致,说明只有丁二酸丁二酯(BS)单元结晶而丁二酸丙二酯(PS)单元处于无定形区.聚酯等温结晶后,在升温熔融过程中出现了多重熔融峰.分析表明多重熔融峰主要来自于聚酯升温过程中的熔融-重结晶行为.利用Avrami方程分析了聚酯的等温结晶动力学,Avrami指数n为2.2~2.8,说明聚酯等温结晶时主要以异相成核的三维生长方式进行;随着PS单元的增多,聚酯的表观结晶活化能升高,也就是说BS单元的结晶变得困难.POM观察到聚酯等温结晶时都出现了环带球晶现象,球晶形态会随着结晶温度和化学结构差异而改变.     

聚（琥珀酸丁二醇酯-共-富马酸丁二醇酯）的合成及其双羟基化反应研究

以琥珀酸、富马酸、丁二醇为原料，用共缩聚的方法合成了一系列高分子量聚 （琥珀酸丁二醇酯-共-富马酸丁二醇酯）。然后在催化剂四氧化锇和N-甲基吗啉- N-氧化物以及水存在下，使高分子主链中富马酸丁二醇酯共聚单元的碳碳不饱和双 键发生羟基化反应得到含有亲水性侧羟基的功能性聚酯。对上述合成的生物降解性 高分子运用核磁共振（NMR）、红外（FT-IR）、热分析等方法进行了结构与物理性 能表征。     

Novel degradable copolyesters containing poly(ethylene oxalate) units derived from diethylene oxalate

Two series of poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-oxalate-co-sebacate) (PETOXS) have been synthesized by melt polycondensation using diethylene oxalate (DEOX) as a starting material. NMR quantified the composition, structure, and average sequence length of the copolyesters. Melting and crystallization properties differ from each other on the basis of PETOXS feature. Analysis of TG traces determined that initial degradation temperatures were affected by the content of PET. It was observed that the Young's modulus and the maximum tensile stress increased with increasing content of poly(ethylene oxalate) (PEOX) in aliphatic units, whereas the elongation at break considerably decreased. Obvious weight loss was observed in alkali hydrolysis experiments, and the degradation rates are subject to distinct factors when the ratio of two aliphatic polyester units is varied. DSC was performed to degraded copolyester samples, and the variation of melting temperature and crystallinity were investigated.