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Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) copolyesters

Three series copolyesters [poly(butylene succinate-co-propylene succinate) (PBPSu), poly(butylene succinate-co-2-methyl-1,3-propylene succinate) (PBMPSu) and poly(ethylene succinate-co-butylene succinate) (PEBSu)] and their homopolyesters [poly(butylene succinate) (PBSu), poly(ethylene succinate) (PESu), poly(propylene succinate) (PPSu) and poly(2-methyl-1,3-propylene succinate) (PMPSu)] were synthesized by a two-step reaction (esterification and polycondensation) with titanium tetraisopropoxide as the catalyst. Molecular weights of all synthesized polyesters were determined by intrinsic viscosity and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) measurements. The values of intrinsic viscosity (0.97 ~ 1.62 dL/g) and relative molecular weight (2.4x10000 ~ 11.9x10000 g/mol) indicate that these polyesters can be made into films without complications. Compositions and sequence distributions of copolyesters were determined by analyzing the spectra of 1H NMR and 13C NMR. The randomness values of these copolyesters are closed to 1.0 that represents random sequence distribution of the comonomers.
Thermal properties and stabilities were characterized using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), respectively. All copolyesters exhibited a single glass transition temperature (Tg). For PBPSu copolyesters, incorporating propylene succinate units to PBSu not only narrows the window between Tg and melting temperature (Tm), but also retards the cold crystallization ability, thereby lowering the crystallinity to a considerable extent. This phenomenon also occurred in PBMPSu and PEBSu copolyesters when the 2-methyl-1,3-propylene succinate (MPS) and butylene succinate (BS) units were incorporated into PBSu and PESu, respectively. Tstart is the temperature of first detectable deviation from the derivative curve of weight loss. Tstarts of all synthesized polyesters around 240 £jC, higher than the temperature of polycondensation reaction (220 £jC), demonstrates that there is no necessity of using a thermal stabilizer during the synthesis of these polyesters. Additionally, the thermal stability does not vary significantly with compositions in the same series polyester.
Wide-angle X-ray diffractograms (WAXDs) at room temperature were obtained from polyesters crystallized isothermally at a temperature around 5-20 £jC below their melting temperatures. WAXD patterns of two series polyesters elucidated that the incorporation of PS or MPS units into PBSu markedly inhibits the crystallization behavior of PBSu. The phenomenon also occurred in PEBSu copolyesters when BS units were incorporated into PESu. Results of WAXD and DSC measurements showed that PMPSu is a amorphous polyester. The retarding effect on crystallization by methyl substituents on the polymer chain is efficient.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0830110-145041
Date30 August 2010
CreatorsChen, Chi-He
ContributorsJung-Tasi Chen, Ta-Jung Lu, Ming Chen, Chien-Shu Hsu, Hua-Tsung Huang, Tsu-Hsin Chang
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0830110-145041
Rightsrestricted, Copyright information available at source archive

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