Characterization of the mechanical properties, crystallization, and enzymatic degradation behavior of poly(butylene succinate‐co‐ethyleneoxide‐co‐DL‐lactide) copolyesters

Abstract

A series of aliphatic biodegradable poly (butylene succinate-co-ethyleneoxide-co-DL-lactide) copolyesters were synthesized by the polycondensation in the presence of dimethyl succinate, 1,4-butanediol, poly(ethylene glycol), and DL-oligo(lactic acid) (OLA). The composition, as well as the sequential structure of the copolyesters, was carefully investigated by 1 H-NMR. The crystallization behaviors, crystal structure, and spherulite morphology of the copolyesters were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry, wide angle X-ray diffraction, and polarizing optical microscopy, respectively. The results indicate that the sequence length of butylene succinate (BS) decreased as the OLA feed molar ratio increasing. The crystallization behavior of the copolyesters was influenced by the composition and sequence length of BS, which further tuned the mechanical properties of the copolyesters. The copolyesters formed the crystal structures and spherulites similar to those of PBS. The incorporation of more content of ethylene oxide (EO) units into the copolyesters led to the enhanced hydrophilicity. The more content of lactide units in the copolyesters facilitated the degradation in the presence of enzymes. The morphology of the copolyester films after degradation was also studied by the scanning electron microscopy.

Novel Random PBS-Based Copolymers Containing Aliphatic Side Chains for Sustainable Flexible Food Packaging

“…The big interest in PBS and its copolymers has been proven by the large number of published works in the literature: different possible applications have been evaluated, such as mulching films, food packaging, tissue engineering and drug delivery; degradation kinetics studies in different environments have been also carried out [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Since 2009, our research group has given its contribution in this research topic, by synthesizing and studying several block and random copolymers of PBS: only recently, we investigated the barrier performances of PBS and some of its statistical copolymers [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”

Influence of chemical and architectural modifications on the enzymatic hydrolysis of poly(butylene succinate)

“…11 In particular, to increase the biodegradation rate of PBS, several random copolyesters with aliphatic diacids or diols have been studied. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] More recently, biodegradable multiblock copolymers of PBS have been also prepared. [20][21][22][23][24] In this respect, reactive blending, that occurs when two polymers are melt mixed together, is a simple and versatile solvent-free method to synthesize new copolymers displaying final properties that can be favorably modulated, depending on the type, relative amount and distribution of the comonomeric units along the polymeric chain.…”

Crystallization behavior and mechanical strength of poly(butylene succinate‐co‐ethylene glycol)‐based nanocomposites using functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes

“…PBSG used in this study was synthesized according to the previous work [34]. The MWCNTs were purchased from Chengdu Organic Chemicals, Chinese Academy of Sciences (purity > 95%, length: 10–20 μm, outside diameter: 30–40 nm, inside diameter: 20–30 nm).…”