Abstract
Polylactide is a biodegradable versatile material based on annually renewable resources and thus CO2-neutral in its lifecycle. Until now, tin(II)octanoate [Sn(Oct(2))] was used as catalyst for the industrial ring-opening polymerization of lactide in spite of its cytotoxicity. On the way towards a sustainable catalyst, three iron(II) hybrid guanidine complexes were investigated concerning their molecular structure and applied to the ring-opening polymerization of lactide. The complexes could polymerize unpurified technical-grade rac-lactide as well as recrystallized l-lactide to long-chain polylactide in bulk with monomer/initiator ratios of more than 5000:1 in a controlled manner following the coordination-insertion mechanism. For the first time, a biocompatible complex has surpassed Sn(Oct)(2) in its polymerization activity under industrially relevant conditions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2161-2165 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Chemsuschem |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 May 2019 |
Keywords
- bioplastics
- degradation
- guanidines
- iron
- lactide
- ligands
- magnesium
- mechanism
- polyesters
- polylactide
- ring-opening polymerization
- zinc-complexes
- POLYESTERS
- MECHANISM
- ZINC-COMPLEXES
- POLYLACTIDE
- MAGNESIUM
- LIGANDS
- DEGRADATION
- RING-OPENING POLYMERIZATION