Synthesis and characterization of tercopolymers derived from ε‐caprolactone, trimethylene carbonate, and lactide

A series of tri-components copolymers with different molar ratios were synthesized via bulk ring-opening copolymerization of trimethylene carbonate (TMC), L-lactide (LLA), and e-caprolactone (e-CL), using stannous octoate as catalyst. The sequence structure of the tercopolymer chain was characterized by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The results showed that although block sequence of the corresponding monomers still existed in the tercopolymer chain, the random tercopolymers were ultimately obtained due to the transesterification during polymerization. For the samples TP1 and TP2, longer sequence of LLA existed in the molecular chains. The thermal properties of tercopolymers were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the mechanical properties of the resulting copolymers were studied by using a tensile tester. The results indicated that the properties of these copolymers could be adjusted by changing the compositions of the copolymers. The resulting tercopolymers are expected to have potential uses as nerve regeneration and other biomedicine materials. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.