Synthesis, characterization and structural analysis of polylactide grafted onto water-soluble hydroxypropyl chitin as backbone

Abstract

Brush-like polylactide grafted onto water-soluble hydroxylpropyl chitin as backbone is investigated. The copolymers are synthesized by ring-opening melting polymerization using stannous octoate as catalyst. The structure of the branched polymers is characterized by IR spectrometry and ~1H-NMR. The reaction is carried out fluently under the feeding ratio of hydroxylpropyl chitin to lactide being 5:1,8:1,10:1 1 respectively The length of the branched polylactide increases with the lactide content in the feed. The result of the ~1H-NMR demonstrates that the most length of the branched polylactide is about 5 or so.