Synthesis of Lactic Acid-based Polymers

Regardless of the methods used to synthesise lactic acid-based polymers, the monomers must be purified [34]. The ring-opening polymerisation of lactides can be initiated or catalysed by many compounds acting via different general mechanisms. Protic acids (hydrobromic acid (HBr), hydrochloric acid (HCl), triflic acid and so on). 

Combined with the influence of molecular mass on polymer properties, the various routes offer means of obtaining degradable polymeric compounds ranging from wax to hard solids, having a lifetime from a few weeks to several years in aqueous media, and being amorphous or semicrystalline. A number of chemicals and complexes can 

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