New Environmentally Benign Polymers Produced by Copolymerization with α‐Angelicalactone

Abstract

SummaryNovel biodegradable polymer materials have been synthesised via copolymerization of styrene, or caprolactam, or ethyleneterephthalate oligomers, or methylmethacrylate with comparatively small amounts (1–20 mol. %) of α‐angelicalactone (AL) or polyangelicalactone (PAL). The molecular mass (up to 150000 amu), tensile strength (up to 170 MPa for ethyleneterephthalate‐AL copolymers), elongation at break, and yield strength of the polymers have been measured. Generally, the AL additives change the polymer strength characteristics by not more than 10–20%. Biodegradation of the synthesised polymers have been studied in the forest soil and in the composting plant wastes under conditions of anaerobic or aerobic digestion. Aerobic composting with plant wastes allows complete degradation of the AL‐containing copolymers within 9–25 weeks, except for the ethyleneterephthalate‐AL copolymers, which lose only 14–22% of the mass during 20 weeks of composting. The AL‐free homopolymers are essentially not digested under the conditions examined.