Clemson University

Nilmini Abayasinghe

Dennis Smith

Dennis W Smith, Jr

Dahlia Haynes

Disclosed is a process for producing lactide-based copolymers and copolymers produced by the process. The copolymers are formed by the copolymerization of a lactide monomer with a secondary material. In one embodiment, the secondary material can be derived from renewable resources, providing a product copolymer completely derived from renewable resources. The disclosed materials may display improved hydrolytic and thermal characteristics as compared to previously known lactide-based materials. Exemplary secondary materials that can be copolymerized with lactide can include polyhydroxy alkanoates, long chain primary alcohols, and depsipeptides.

Copolymers from lactide

The present invention is generally directed to a process for producing lactide-based polymers and the polymers produced by this process. The polymers of the present invention are terpolymers formed by the copolymerization of a lactide monomer, a linking monomer and an epoxy-terminated monomer. In one embodiment of the invention, the polymers may be formed from fluorine-containing monomers or aromatic ring-containing monomers. The disclosed materials may display improved hydrolytic and thermal characteristics as compared to previously known lactide-based materials. For example, the lactide based terpolymers may have a glass transition temperature over 60&#xb0; C. For instance, lactide-based thermoplastic terpolymers of the present invention can have a glass transition temperatures of about 80&#xb0; C. or higher. Lactide-based thermoset networks of the invention can have glass transition temperatures of up to about 200&#xb0; C.

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Spartanburg, SC, United States of America

Nilmini Abayasinghe