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Updated: Aug 1, 2025

Using Polystyrene-block-polyacrylic acid-coated Metal Nanoparticles as Monomers for Their Homo- and Co-polymerization
Published on: July 9, 2015
All-Polyhydroxyalkanoate Triblock Copolymers via a Stereoselective-Chemocatalytic Route
Andrea H Westlie1, Sarah A Hesse2, Xiaoyan Tang1
1Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1872, United States.
Abstract:
Biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) homopolymers and statistical copolymers are ubiquitous in microbially produced PHAs, but the step-growth polycondensation mechanism the biosynthesis operates on presents a challenge to access well-defined block copolymers (BCPs), especially higher-order tri-BCP PHAs. Here we report a stereoselective-chemocatalytic route to produce discrete hard-soft-hard ABA all-PHA tri-BCPs based on the living chain-growth ring-opening polymerization of racemic (rac) 8-membered diolides (rac-8DLR; R denotes the two substituents on the ring). Depending on the composition of the soft B block, originated from rac-8DLR (R = Et, Bu), and its ratio to the semicrystalline, high-melting hard A block, derived from rac-8DLMe, the resulting all-PHA tri-BCPs with high molar mass (Mn up to 238 kg mol-1) and low dispersity (Đ = 1.07) exhibit tunable mechanical properties characteristic of a strong and tough thermoplastic, elastomer, or a semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomer.
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