Sequence Control of Poly(Lactic Acid–co–Glycolic Acid) via Selective Polymerisation Catalysis

Abstract

The use of plastics is ubiquitous in current society and these materials are essential across various industries. However, the environmental persistence of fossil-derived plastics has driven the pressing need to develop more sustainable alternatives to these materials with thermal, mechanical and barrier properties that are comparable with current materials. Plastics that are biodegradable and/or derived from renewable resources are a potential contributor to the transition towards more sustainable plastic materials that can be utilised across many industries. Examples of such plastics are polyesters such as poly(lactide) (PLA), poly(glycolide) (PGA) and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) that can be prepared via metal-catalysed ring opening polymerisation (ROP) of the relevant cyclic esters. The use of PLGA is generally confined to the biomedical industry due to the predictable biodegradability, which is influenced by the copolymer microstructure. The typical microstructure of PLGA utilised within biomedical applications is randomised, however, the synthesis of PLGA with targeted microstructure has the potential to influence the thermal, mechanical and barrier properties of the material as well as impact the degradation behaviour. This work explores the variation of PLGA mictrostructure and how this impacts the material properties with the view to determine if these microstructural changes could result in expanded applications of PLGA as a biodegradable, more sustainable material.

Date of Award	26 Jun 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Matthew Davidson (Supervisor), Antoine Buchard (Supervisor) & Gerrit Gobius du Sart (Supervisor)