Amorphous high glass transition biodegradable polymers by radical polymerization

可生物降解聚合物在工业堆肥厂或使用后在农业土壤中具有寿命终止选项，可作为包装和农业应用中经常使用的聚烯烃的可持续替代品，因为它们产生最大的塑料垃圾。然而，目前的主要瓶颈是缺乏基本的合成可生物降解材料，这些材料在使用过程中需要良好的物理性能平衡，使用后完全和快速的生物降解率并具有明确的生物同化证据。本提案旨在研究这类材料的合成、表征和生物降解行为。将采用非传统的方法，通过环缩酮缩醛与乙烯基单体的自由基开环聚合来制备聚酯，因为它提供了更多的机会来控制材料的性能，包括通过改变CKA和乙烯基单体结构来控制微观结构，以及聚合-间歇与半间歇过程的方法。重点将放在调整聚合物的微观结构以实现完全生物降解，并详细研究生物降解的两个阶段。

Biodegradable polymers with end-of-life options in industrial compost plants or in agricultural soil after use, could be a sustainable replacement of polyolefins used often for packaging and agricultural applications as they create maximum plastic waste. However, presently the major bottleneck is the lack of basic synthetic biodegradable materials with balance in good physical properties required during use and the complete and fast rate of biodegradation after use with unambiguous proof of bio assimilation. The present proposal aims at studying such materials with respect to their synthesis, characterization and biodegradation behaviour. Unconventional method of making polyesters by radical ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ketene acetals with vinyl monomers will be used as it offers more opportunities of controlling the material properties including microstructure by changing both the CKA and vinyl monomer structures and methods of polymerization – batch vs. semi batch processes. Emphasis will be on tuning the microstructure of the polymers for complete biodegradation and studying both stages of biodegradation in details.