Syntheses and Physical Characterization of Biodegradable Poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene itaconate) Copolymers

Abstract

Biodegradable aliphatic poly (butylene succinate-co-butylene itaconate) (PBSBIs) from succinic acid, itaconic acid and 1,4-butanediol were synthesized through a polycondensation with titanium tetraisoproxide (TTP), diphenylphosphinic acid (DPPA) as the novel co-catalysts in this article. By means of gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR), it was revealed that the PBSI copolyesters had number average molecular weights Mn higher than 3.0 × 104, and the composition of copolyesters was in good agreement with that expected from the feed composition of the reactants. With respect to thermal properties, melting temperature (Tm), crystallization temperature (Tc), and crystallinity (Xc) were found to decrease with increasing the BI/BS unit molar ratio up to 0.67. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the PBSIs copolyesters had the same crystal structure as the PBS. While increasing the BI/BS unit molar ratio up to 1, the copolyesters would change into insolubility and inmelt crosslinked elastomer. Otherwise, the observation of polarizing optical microscope (POM) showed that the spherulite size of copolyesters gradually became smaller with the increasing of BI unit content. Experimental results also showed that the contents of itaconic acid had an important effect on the biodegradable performance of copolyesters.