Lactones Polylactide copolymers

Copolymerization is the one way to synthesize polymeric materials with desired properties and functions. The cyclic carbonate monomers are successfully copolymerized with various cyclic monomers, such as cyclic carbonates, lactones with/without substituents, lactide, and cyclic phosphates. TMC was copolymerized with lactide by PPL to produce poly(lactide-co-TMC)s having carbonate contents from 0 to 100% and having molecular weights of up to 21000. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the copolymer was dependent on the carbonate content, and the Tg values linearly decreased from 35° (polylactide) to - 8° [poly(TMC)] [47]. TMC was also copolymerized with medium to large ring-sized lactones. As an example, TMC was copolymerized with PDL in toluene by lipase CA at 70 °C to yield random copolymers [135]. All the poly(PDL-TMC)s were highly crystalline, even those with an equimolar comonomer content and close-to-random distribution. Thermal stability improves with randomization of the comonomer distribution [136]. 

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