Enhancement of T-g of Poly(l-lactide) by Incorporation of Biobased Mandelic-Acid-Derived Phenyl Groups by Polymerization and Polymer Blending

A high-molecular-weight polyester of poly(mandelate-co-lactate) (PML) is prepared by ring-opening polymerization of stereo-configuration controlled cyclic diester monomers of methyl-6-phenyl-1,4-dioxane-2,5-dione (MPDD) and lactide. The attained PML shows excellent glassy properties, although the original stereo-configuration of MPDD is not preserved. The intrinsic high glass transition temperature (Tg) of PML is promising, and it is able to be further enhanced by thermal treatment to as high as 90 °C. Interestingly, the enhanced high Tg is attained by only 15 mol% of mandelate content in the polymer chain which is far lower than the ones suggested by theoretical calculation. The enhancement in Tg is also attained by polymer blending of PML and poly(l-lactide) (PLLA). The Tg of the polymer blend also reaches 90 °C which is almost 20 °C higher than the ones suggested by theoretical calculations. These results indicate that the rigid mandelate unit consisting of phenyl groups in PML chain effectively interact with PLLA chains in amorphous domain to restrict their chain mobility. The thermal and glassy properties are sufficient to explore new applications in engineering fields