Preparation of Higher Molecular Weight Poly (L-lactic Acid) by Chain Extension

High molecular weight poly (lactic acid) (PLA) was obtained by chain extending with hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). The influences of the amount of chain extender, reaction time, and molecular weight changes of prepolymers on the poly(lactic acid) were investigated. PLA prepolymer with a viscosity, average molecular weight ( Mη ) of 2 × 104 g/mol was synthesized froml-lactide using stannous octoate as the catalyst. After 20 min of chain extension at 175°C, the resulting polymer had Mw of 20.3 × 104 g/mol and Mn of 10.5 × 104 g/mol. Both FT-IR and1H-NMR verified that the structure of PLA did not change either before chain extending or after. The optically active characterized that the chain extending-product was left handed. DSC and XRD results showed that both the Tg and the crystallinity of PLA were lowered by chain-extension reaction. The crystalline transformation happened in PLA after chain extending, crystalline α′ form to α form.