Abstract
High molecular weight PLA was successfully synthesized by chain extension reaction of hydroxylated prepolymer using succinic anhydride as a chain extender. Hydroxylated prepolymer was prepared by direct condensation polymerization of L-lactic acid in the presence of 1,4-butanediol. Various molar ratios between hydroxylated prepolymer and succinic anhydride (i.e, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3) were investigated. The results showed that succinic anhydride can help increasing molecular weight of hydroxylated prepolymer approximately up to 47% as characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) technique. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) was used to investigate structure of chain-extended PLA. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to examine thermal properties while the crystallinity was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD).
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