Polymer/Polymer Inclusion Compounds as a Novel Approach To Obtaining a PLLA/PCL Intimately Compatible Blend

• Published in: Macromolecules 2000-07, Vol.33 (15), p.5321-5324
• Main Authors: Rusa, Cristian C, Tonelli, Alan E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Organic polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Properties and characterization; Structure, morphology and analysis
• ISSN: 0024-9297; 1520-5835
• DOI: 10.1021/ma000746h

Aliphatic polyesters represent an important family of biodegradable materials. Increasing attention has been focused on hydrolytically unstable lactone polymers owing to their usefulness in biomedical applications. To enhance the rate of biodegradation, the permeability and the tensile properties of the biomaterials, copolymerization, and blending processes have been used. Blending with other biodegradable polymers might offer a more cost-effective way of modifying the properties of hard and brittle poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) than chemical modification. Taking advantage of the ability of alpha -cyclodextrin ( alpha -CD) to form inclusion compounds (ICs) with both PLLA and PCL, an intimately compatible blend can be achieved when PLLA/PCL - alpha -CD IC was obtained and afterward washed with a solvent (H sub 2 O) for the alpha -CD host, which is a non-solvent for the guest polymers. The miscibility of the PLLA/PCL blend extracted from alpha -CD IC channels has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and polarizing optical microscopy. These preliminary results are compared to those of a PLLA/PCL blend cast from their common solution in dioxane.