Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a bio-based polymer with biodegradability and biocompatibility, which can be produced from renewable resources. Recently, PLA with porous structures (monolith) has been studied with increasing importance in bioengineering and separation technology. However, poor chemical-resistance and thermal stability of these materials are serious drawbacks for usage. In this work, it was attempted to produce PLA monoliths with stereocomplex (sc) crystals using enantiometric poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(D-lactic acid) (PDLA) to solve these problems. It was found that the basic structure of the monoliths was changed by the ratio of PLLA/PDLA: The PLA monolith prepared from pristine PLLA showed needle-like morphology, whereas that prepared from (50/50) PLLA/PDLA exhibited spherical structure.  DSC measurements demonstrated that the PLA monolith prepared from (50/50) PLLA/PDLA had high sc-crystallinity without any homo-chiral (hc) crystals.  Interestingly, PLA monolith prepared from the pristine PLLA dissolved instantly in dioxane, however, the monolith prepared from (50/50) PLLA/PDLA exhibited excellent resistance to dioxane even for weeks.

Monolithic porous poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with stereocomplex crystals

247th National Meeting (2014)

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