A Greener Enzymatic Oligoesterification of Biobased Renewable Synthons

Abstract

Polyesters of xylitol and succinic acid were prepared yielding from 70 to 75% by enzymecatalyzed esterification using a molar mass from 1:1 to 2:5 at 120 and 140 °C employing from 1 to 10% m/m of enzyme. Control over branching degree was achieved by tuning the reaction conditions (temperature, time, comonomer ratio, enzyme content). This one-step process from renewable starting materials avoids protection-deprotection techniques, as well as the use of toxic solvents by introducing limonene as solvent for polyesterification for the first time. All materials were structurally characterized by infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)spectroscopy, their thermal properties were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and the molecular weight of samples were obtained by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC).

Recent Advances in the Enzymatic Synthesis of Polyester

“…PBSI with an Mn reaching 13,288 g/mol with 90% yield was obtained, and the unsaturated group was well preserved. On the other hand, hyperbranched polyol polyester could be produced from polyol using the enzyme-catalyzed polycondensation method [ 46 , 47 , 48 ]. Hyperbranched polyol polyesters are elastomers mainly used to replace soft tissues, and glycerol polyesters are among the most studied polyesters [ 49 , 50 ].…”