Modulating the thermal properties of poly(hydroxybutyrate) by the copolymerization of rac-β-butyrolactone with lactide

Biobased poly(hydroxybutyrate) is produced by microorganisms under controlled conditions. It is a linear, high molecular weight, fully isotactic and highly crystalline polymer. However, it has poor mechanical and thermal properties. We have modulated the thermal properties of this material by ring-opening co-polymerization of rac-β-butyrolactone (BL) with lactide (LA) in the presence of salan-based yttrium and aluminum catalysts. The prepared poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-lactide) copolymers were characterized by proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C NMR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses. The salan-yttrium compound was a more effective catalyst compared to the aluminum compound, affording high molecular weight copolymers with higher monomer conversion and a monomodal distribution of the molecular weights. The kinetic experiments showed a higher rate of polymerization for the LA with respect to the BL. The copolymers were amorphous and DSC showed unique transition temperatures for all of the samples. The formation of a gradient copolymer is proposed.