Epimerization-suppressed organocatalytic synthesis of poly-l-lactide in supercritical carbon dioxide under plasticizing conditions

Herein, an efficient (>95% yield, >99.0% ee) Brønsted acid-catalyzed synthetic method of poly-l-lactide (PLLA) in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) under plasticizing conditions is presented. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis of the PLLA hydrolysis products indicated that, as opposed to the case of organic solvents, the use of a nucleophilic catalyst in scCO₂ suppressed the epimerization. The highly stereochemically pure PLLA prepared by the developed method under metal-free conditions meets the criteria of medicinal/engineering applications.     

Quantification of residual monomer in polylactide by gas chromatographic internal standard method

An analytical method has been developed to quantitatively determine the residual lactide monomer in polylactide (PLA) using an internal standard method of gas chromatography (GC). The experimental results showed that diphenyl ether (DPE) was an appropriate internal standard for quantitative analysis of residual lactide in PLA. PLA and DPE were dissolved in dichloromethane and precipitated in hexane. At the same time, the residual lactide in PLA and DPE as an internal standard were extracted to hexane from the polymer solution. The resulting solution could be directly injected into a GC system. Therefore, the residual lactide was determined quantitatively using an internal standard method of GC. This method is practical for measuring the residual lactide content in PLA. When the lactide content is 5.0%, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the measurements is 1.7%, while RSD is 6.9% at the low level of 0.4%, which indicates that the method is sufficiently precise.     

Design of toughened PLA based material for application in structures subjected to severe loading conditions. Part 1. Quasi-static and dynamic tensile tests at ambient temperature

The suitability of a ternary composition 58 wt% polylactide (PLA) - 25 wt% poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) - 17 wt% Impact modifier (Biostrong) for use in technical parts subjected to severe loading conditions was investigated. As a key point, its tensile behavior under high-strain-rate loading, for the moment at ambient temperature, was studied, which has not been done before for any PLA-based composition. Prior to dynamic tensile tests, it was verified that the appealing mechanical properties of PLA-PMMA-Biostrong composition previously achieved with material processed at laboratory scale are kept when the material is produced using industrial extrusion and injection processes. Finally, industrially produced PLA-PMMA-Biostrong composition showed high levels of tensile strength, rigidity and ductility for a wide range of strain-rate and is, therefore, suitable for use in highly-loaded technical parts.     

Applications of life cycle assessment to NatureWorks™ polylactide (PLA) production

NatureWorks™ polylactide (PLA)¹ is a versatile polymer produced by Cargill Dow LLC. Cargill Dow is building a global platform of sustainable polymers and chemicals entirely made from renewable resources. Cargill Dow's business philosophy is explained including the role of life cycle assessment (LCA), a tool used for measuring environmental sustainability and identifying environmental performance-improvement objectives. The paper gives an overview of applications of LCA to PLA production and provides insight into how they are utilized. The first application reviews the contributions to the gross fossil energy requirement for PLA (54 MJ/kg). In the second one PLA is compared with petrochemical-based polymers using fossil energy use, global warming and water use as the three impact indicators. The last application gives more details about the potential reductions in energy use and greenhouse gasses. Cargill Dow's 5–8 year objective is to decrease the fossil energy use from 54 MJ/kg PLA down to about 7 MJ/kg PLA. The objective for greenhouse gasses is a reduction from +1.8 down to −1.7 kg CO₂ equivalents/kg PLA.     

Biodegradability of polylactide bottles in real and simulated composting conditions

As new biodegradable polymers and their packaging applications are emerging, there is a need to address their environmental performance. In particular, there is a need to understand the time required for their complete disintegration, before these materials are deployed in commercial composting processes. Standards developed by ASTM and ISO evaluate the biodegradation of biodegradable plastic materials in simulated controlled composting conditions. However, a more detailed understanding of the biodegradation of complete packages is needed in order to have a successful composting operation. This paper investigates the biodegradation performance of polylactide (PLA) bottles under simulated composting conditions according to ASTM and ISO standards, and these results are compared with a novel method of evaluating package biodegradation in real composting conditions. Two simulated composting methods were used in this study to assess biodegradability of PLA bottles: (a) a cumulative measurement respirometric (CMR) system and (b) a gravimetric measurement respirometric (GMR) system. Both CMR and GMR systems showed similar trends of biodegradation for PLA bottles and at the end of the 58th day the mineralization was 84.2±0.9% and 77.8±10.4%, respectively. PLA bottle biodegradation in real composting conditions was correlated to their breakdown and variation in molecular weight. Molecular weight of 4100 Da was obtained for PLA bottles in real composting conditions on the 30th day. The biodegradation observed for PLA bottles in both conditions explored in this study matches well with theoretical degradation and biodegradation mechanisms; however, biodegradation variability exists in both conditions and is discussed in this paper.     

可生物降解的聚乳酸弹性体的性能研究

对制备的聚乳酸（聚醚）酯型聚氨酯弹性体进行了动态力学、力学性能和降解性能的测试．结果表明，弹性体的强度和弹性都较好，它们受交联度、ＰＥＧ含量和ＰＥＧ分子量的影响．该弹性体的降解速度较快．降解过程中存在自催化效应，而且是从表面开始由表及里逐渐降解的．但材料降解过程中也会出现内部降解较快的现象．动物实验表明，该弹性体是一种能满足尿道支撑管要求的有实际应用价值的材料．     

可降解聚氨酯丙烯酸酯生物材料的制备及其表征

以端羟基聚丙交酯(PLLA)为软段,六亚甲基二异氰酸酯(HDI)和甲基丙烯酸羟乙酯(HEMA)为硬段聚合得到端基为双键的低聚物,再在UV照射下固化得到可生物降解的聚氨酯丙烯酸酯(PUA)生物组织工程材料.PLLA由1,4-丁二醇引发L-丙交酯(L-LA)开环得到.PLLA和低聚物的组成结构用NMR和GPC进行了表征.对固化聚合物PUA的热性能(DSC和TGA)、力学性能(DMA和拉伸)和亲水性(接触角和溶胀)的研究表明增加PLLA软段会增加材料的Tg,但降低材料的亲水性和交联度.PLLA500-HDI的拉伸强度为6.7 MPa,可以满足生物材料的力学性能要求.通过体外降解实验,发现增加PUA材料的软段,降解速率下降.降解16周后,PLLA500-HDI降解最快,失重15.8%,而PLLA2000-HDI的降解速率最慢,失重5.5%,可能与其微相分离的结构有关.红外(ATR)分析表明降解的PUA膜中N—H的伸缩吸收峰(3364 cm-1)变宽和C O吸收峰变尖锐,说明主链中酯键和氨基甲酸酯键都发生了水解.热失重(TGA)曲线上PLLA500-HDI和PLLA1000-HDI降解后的PUA材料热稳定性下降,而PLLA2000-HDI变化不大.此外,在SEM图中发现降解的PLLA500-HDI膜表面出现裂纹和孔洞,PLLA2000-HDI材料表面也形成相分离结构.细胞实验说明材料支持细胞的黏附,有较好的生物相容性,具有应用于组织工程的潜力.     

Thermal,morphological, mechanical and aging properties of polylactide blends with poly(ether urethane) based on chain-extension reaction of poly(ethylene glycol) using diisocyanate

Poly(ether urethane)s(PEU), including PEUI15 and PEUH15, were prepared through chain-extension reaction of poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG-1500) using diisocyanate as a chain extender, including isophorone diisocyanate(IPDI) and hexamethylene diisocyanate(HDI). These PEUs were used to toughen polylactide(PLA) by physical and reactive blending.Thermal, morphological, mechanical and aging properties of the blends were investigated in detail. These PEUs were partially compatible with PLA. The elongation at break of the reactive blends in the presence of triphenyl phosphate(TPP)for PLA with PEUH15 or PEUI15 was much higher than that of the physical blends. The aging test was carried out at-20 °C for 50 h in order to accelerate the crystallization of PEUs. The PEUs in the PLA/PEU blends produced crystallization and formed new phase separation with PLA, resulting in the declined toughness of blends. Fortunately, under the aging condition,although PEUH15 in blends could also form crystallization, the reactive blend of PLA/PEUH15/TPP(80/20/2) had higher toughness than the other blends. The elongation at break of PLA/PEUH15/TPP(80/20/2) dropped to 287% for the aging blend from 350% for the original blend. The tensile strength and modulus of PLA/PEUH15/TPP blend did not change obviously because of the crystallization of PEUH15.     

Pyrolysis-GC-MS reveals important differences in hydrolytic degradation process of wood flour and rice bran filled polylactide composites

Pyrolysis-GC-MS of polylactide (PLA) biocomposites before and after hydrolytic degradation revealed prominent differences in the hydrolytic degradation process of rice bran and wood flour filled biocomposites. The water uptake and mass loss for polylactide/wood flour composites were similar to that of plain PLA. Pyrolysis-GC-MS, however, showed that on prolonged ageing the hydrolysis of PLA led to increased wood flour concentration in the remaining biocomposite matrices. In contrast, the polylactide/rice bran composites exhibited larger water uptake and higher mass loss. Pyrolysis-GC-MS and FTIR analysis proved that the higher mass loss was caused by migration of rice bran from the composites. The type of natural filler could thus greatly influence the degradation process and/or the stability of the materials in aqueous or humid environments.     

Synthesis and structural characterization of a dichloro zinc complex of N,N′-bis-(2,6-dichloro-benzyl)-(R,R)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane: Application to ring opening polymerization of rac-lactide

A novel dichloro zinc complex (L¹)ZnCl₂, where L¹ is N,N′-bis-(2,6-dichloro-benzyl)-(R,R)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane, has been synthesized and characterized. The dimethyl derivatives, generated in situ from the well characterized dichloro zinc complexes (L¹)ZnCl₂ and (L²)ZnCl₂, where L² is N,N′-bis-(benzyl)-(R,R)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane, were employed as initiators for the ring opening polymerization (ROP) of rac-lactide (rac-LA). The complexes were found to be highly efficient initiators yielding the polylactide (PLA) with a narrow molecular weight distribution. The catalytic activity and heterotactic selectivity of the Zn(II) complexes were affected by the substituents on the phenyl groups of benzyl moieties in (R,R)-1,2-diaminocyclohexane. The dimethyl derivative of (L²)ZnCl₂ produced highly stereocontrolled PLA with P_r = 0.75 at −25 °C.