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Synthesis, characterization of star-shaped copolymers of l-lactide and epoxidized soybean oil

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Abstract

Biodegradable star-shaped PLLA–ESO copolymers were synthesized by the bulk copolymerization of l-lactide (l-LA) and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) with stannous octanoate as the catalyst. Effects of molar ratios of monomer to catalyst, and various amounts of ESO on copolymerization were studied. The resulting copolymers were characterized by FTIR, 1H NMR, GPC, etc., which confirmed the successful synthesis of star-shaped copolymers of l-LA and ESO. The thermal and mechanical properties of samples were also investigated by means of DSC, TGA and tensile testing. The results showed that the PLLA–ESO copolymers possed lower glass transition temperature, melting point, crystallinity, and maximum decomposition temperature than those of neat polylactide. Tensile testing demonstrated that PLLA–ESO copolymer had better ductility than linear PLLA. It was also found that the amount of catalyst almost had no influence on the weight average molecular weight of PLLA–ESO copolymers, but which could be controlled by variation of molar ratios of l-LA to ESO.

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Acknowledgements

The work was financially supported by Natural science fund for colleges and universities in Jiangsu Province (Project No. 08KJB430004), Scientific and Technological Developing Scheme of of Zhenjiang City (Project No. SH2008073).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Specially Functional Polymeric Materials and Related Technology of the Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Zou & Farong Huang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, JiangSu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Jun Zou, Xuan Chen, You Shu & Haijun Zhou

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  1. Jun Zou
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  2. Xuan Chen
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  3. You Shu
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  5. Farong Huang
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Correspondence to Farong Huang.

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Zou, J., Chen, X., Shu, Y. et al. Synthesis, characterization of star-shaped copolymers of l-lactide and epoxidized soybean oil. Polym. Bull. 66, 315–326 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-010-0280-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-010-0280-3

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