Design, synthesis and characterization of novel biodegradable macrodiols based on poly(dl-lactic acid) and poly(p-dioxanone)

Integrating poly(lactic acid) (PLA), glycolic acid (GA) and ethylene glycol (EG) will hopefully result in a novel copolymer that combines such advantages as fastened and controllable release rate and improved flexibility together with good biocompatibility. In this study, p-dioxanone (PDO) was employed to copolymerize with dl-lactide (LA) via ring-opening melt polymerization using Sn(Oct)2 as an initiator and ethylene glycol as a co-initiator. The obtained degradable macrodiols (HO-P(LA-co-PDO)-OH) were just such a copolymer consisting of PLA, GA and EG. 1H NMR was employed to characterize the copolymers, and the effect of PDO/LA molar ratios in the feedstock on the molecular weights of HO-P(LA-co-PDO)-OH was investigated by means of end-hydroxyl analysis, 1H NMR or GPC-MALLs. The results confirmed the successful synthesis of HO-P(LA-co-PDO)-OH and revealed that one end-hydroxyl of the micarodiols was donated by LA or PDO and the other one by the co-initiator EG. In addition, the molecular weights of HO-P(LA-co-PDO)-OH increased with decreasing PDO/LA ratios.