Fabrication of flexible blend films using a chitosan derivative and poly(trimethylene carbonate)

Abstract

To modify the flexibility of chitosan (CS), poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) and its derivatives and copolymers were blended with a chitosan derivative, N,N,N-trimethylchitosan (TM-CS). The tensile strength of the CS and TM-CS films blended with PTMC was found to cause brittleness, but a PTMC derivative copolymer bearing carboxylic acid improved the elongation properties of TM-CS. A softer film was obtained for a blend film composed of TM-CS with 25% consisting of an added PTMC derivative copolymer bearing a 10% carboxylic acid moiety on the side chain. This film showed an elongation at break of 20.6 ± 9.3% with a tensile strength of 2.2 ± 0.83 MPa, while the original CS and TM-CS films showed an elongation at break of 7.4 ± 3.4% and 9.2 ± 1.6% with a tensile strength of 13.6 ± 1.0 MPa and 3.7 ± 0.35 MPa, respectively. This is the first report of the modification of CS using polymers with a PTMC backbone. Poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) based polymers were blended with N,N,N-trimethylchitosan (TM-CS). The tensile strength of the chitosan (CS) and TM-CS films blended with PTMC was found to cause brittleness, but a PTMC derivative copolymer bearing carboxylic acid improved the elongation properties of TM-CS. A softer film was obtained for a blend film composed of TM-CS with 25% consisting of an added PTMC derivative copolymer bearing a 10% carboxylic acid moiety on the side chain. This is the first report of the modification of CS using polymers with a PTMC backbone.