Poly(delta-gluconolactone) and Poly(delta-gluconolactone- ϵ -caprolactone) from delta-Gluconolactone and ϵ -Caprolactone by Ring-Opening Polymerization

Abstract

Poly(delta-gluconolactone) (PGL) and poly(delta-gluconolactone-ϵ-caprolactone) (P(GL-CL)) were synthesized through ring-opening polymerization (ROP) and characterized by FT-IR, NMR, XRD, intrinsic viscosity, GPC, DSC, and TGA. The crystallinity of P(GL-CL) with various d-GL/CL ratios (d-GL/CL = 5: 5, 4: 6, 3: 7, 2: 8, and 1: 9) was 12.09 to 59.78% while PGL was amorphous. Melting temperature (Tm) of these polymers was 49.8 to 62.0°C and decomposition temperature was 282 to 489°C depending on the d-GL/CL ratios. In addition, all these polymers were degradable and the degradation rates could be controlled by adjusting d-GL/CL ratios. These results indicated that PGL and P(GL-CL) might be promising novel absorbable materials.