Controlling the thermomechanical properties of biobased ABA triblock copolymers comprising polylactide (A) and poly(1,2-propylene succinate) (B) with high molecular weight

Bis-hydroxyl-terminated poly(1,2-propylene succinate) (PPS-diols) with high molecular weight (10–40 kDa) are prepared by two-step melt polycondensation of succinic acid and 1,2-propanediol with Ti(BuO)₄ as the catalyst. By using these PPS-diols as macroinitiators, the ring-opening polymerization of d - and l -lactides is readily conducted to obtain enantiomeric ABA triblock copolymers consisting of poly(l -lactide) and PPS (B) (t-l -PPS) as well as those of poly(d -lactide) and PPS (B) (t-d -PPS) which have higher PPS compositions (20–70 wt%) in addition to high molecular weight (20–80 kD). The T_g, T_m, and ΔH_m values of the t-l -PPS copolymers as well as the stereo mixtures of t-l -PPS/t-d -PPS are controlled to linearly decrease with increasing the PPS content. The copolymers also exhibit higher elastomeric properties with increasing the PPS content. The tensile properties of the copolymer films having higher PPS contents (both the single block copolymers and stereo mixtures) are comparable to those of the oil-based thermoplastic elastomers. It is therefore concluded that these block copolymers can afford thermoplastic elastomers or flexible plastic materials having a 100% biobased content.