Early Synthesis of Polyanhydrides

Synthesis of polyanhydrides from the aromatic dicarboxylic acids (isophthalic and terephthalic acids) by melt polycondensation was first 

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Polyanhydrides form a class of surface-eroding polymers that have been extensively studied solely for biomedical applications. Although the first synthesis of polyanhydrides was reported as early as 1909, the low hydrolytic stability of aliphatic anhydrides coupled with the low molecular weight of many of these polymers barred them from any industrial application until 1980, when they were suggested as ideal candidates for drug-delivery applications. Various polymerization techniques have been developed for the synthesis of very-high-molecular-weight polymers. 

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