Lactide → Lactide-caprolactone coploymer

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

Next, 72.3 grams (0.50 moles) of DL-lactide (Purac) was weighed and placed into the round-bottom flask. Then 57.1 grams (0.50 moles) of ε-caprolactone (Fluka) was weighed and placed in the flask. To this mixture was added 5.6 mL (0.025 moles) of dodecanol and 0.1 mL of the Tin catalyst. The round-bottom flask was placed in an oil bath and heated at 160° C. for 18 hours with stirring by a magnetic stirring bar. The flask was cooled to 110° C. and a vacuum was pulled for 12 hours to remove any residual monomer. The flask was then cooled to room temperature, the vacuum released, and the thick viscous liquid polymer transferred to a sealed glass container. A total of 96.7 grams of the viscous liquid polymer was obtained. The molecular weight (MW) of the copolymer as determined by gel permeation chromatography with a multi-angle light-scattering detector (GPC-MALS) was 8250 daltons with a polydispersity (MW/MN) of 1.13.

Provenance & Evidence