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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Fabricating Superhydrophobic Polymeric Materials for Biomedical Applications
Published on: August 28, 2015
Multiblock copolymers of L-lactide and trimethylene carbonate
Doris Pospiech1, Hartmut Komber, Dieter Jehnichen
1Institut für Technische und Makromolekulare Chemie, Bundesstrasse 45, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany. kricheld@uni-hamburg.de
Abstract:
Sequential copolymerizations of trimethylene carbonate (TMC) and l-lactide (LLA) were performed with 2,2-dibutyl-2-stanna-1,3-oxepane as a bifunctional cyclic initiator. The block lengths were varied via the monomer/initiator and via the TMC/l-lactide ratio. The cyclic triblock copolymers were transformed in situ into multiblock copolymers by ring-opening polycondensation with sebacoyl chloride. The chemical compositions of the block copolymers were determined from (1)H NMR spectra. The formation of multiblock structures and the absence of transesterification were proven by (13)C NMR spectroscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements confirmed the existence of a microphase-separated structure in the multiblock copolymers consisting of a crystalline phase of poly(LLA) blocks and an amorphous phase formed by the poly(TMC) blocks. Stress-strain measurements showed the elastomeric character of these biodegradable multiblock copolymers, particularly in copolymers having epsilon-caprolactone as comonomer in the poly(TMC) blocks.
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