A family of biocompatible and biodegradable polyesters, based on renewable recourses such as glycerol and a variety of sugar alcohols (D-sorbitol, meso-erythritol and D-xylitol), were enzymatically synthesized by using Candida Antarcticatype B (CAL-B) lipase. Although glycerol and other sugar alcohols have multiple hydroxyl groups in their structure but due to the regioselctivity of lipase catalyst, they were used along with divinyladipate to generate linear polyesters with free pendent hydroxyl groups on their backbone.All synthesized polyester chains were hydrophilic in nature but only poly(sorbitol adipate) and poly(xylitol adipate) were water soluble. Pendent hydroxyl groups in the backbone were further modified by different saturated and unsaturated fatty acids with varying degree of grafting. Nanoparticles of these modified polyesters were made by using interfacial deposition method and characterized using dynamic light scattering. All the synthesized products were characterized by NMR- and IR-spectroscopy, and their thermal behavior was analyzed by DSC.  Furthermore, polyester backbones were successfully modified with a-bromoisobutyryl bromide in order to use them as macroinitiator for atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). As an evidence of this concept, glycerol monomethacrylate was polymerized by ATRP from a poly(glycerol adipate) (PGA) backbone yielding the amphiphilic graft copolymer PGA-graft-poly(glycerol monomethacrylate). Its self-assembly in aqueous solution was studied using dynamic light scattering.

Enzymatic synthesis and modification of functional polyesters from renewable resources

248th National Meeting (2014)

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