TY  - JOUR
SN  - 1022-9760
N2  - This paper reports the chemical synthesis of methoxy poly(ethyleneglycol)-block-poly(?-caprolactone-co-4-hydroxyvalerate) from ?-caprolactone and ?-valerolactone, a five-membered ring rarely used in chemical synthesis due to its low reactivity. This procedure enabled production of copolymers with controlled ratios of repeating units and molecular weights, as demonstrated by GPC, FT-IR and NMR characterization. Copolymer degradation rate was found to depend on macromolecular composition, and finely tuneable in a wide range of values. Similarly, hydrophilicity was dependent on ?-valerolactone content, and could be accurately controlled by varying the composition of the reaction feed. Importantly, this copolymer showed lower levels of acidic degradation products than other biodegradable polymers, thus resulting in improved biocompatibility. These encouraging results demonstrate the feasibility of the chemical synthesis of a novel and versatile material with interesting properties that fill a gap in the range of commercially available biodegradable polymers.
AV  - none
TI  - Chemical synthesis of a biodegradable PEGylated copolymer from ?-caprolactone and ?-valerolactone: evaluation of reaction and functional properties
KW  - Ring-opening polymerisation; Five-membered lactone; ?-valerolactone; Biodegradable materials
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10965-015-0661-2
ID  - eprints3246
EP  - 12
A1  - Gagliardi, Mariacristina
A1  - Michele, Federica
A1  - Mazzolai, Barbara
A1  - Bifone, Angelo
PB  - Springer
SP  - 1
Y1  - 2015///
IS  - 2
JF  - Journal of Polymer Research
VL  - 22
ER  -