Lipase-Catalyzed Transesterification of Long Alkylene Chain Dimethyl Dicarboxylic Esters with Glycols to Aliphatic Polyesters

摘要

Aliphatic polyesters was reported to be biodegradable, bioresorbable and biocompatible, which are of great interest for biodegradable materials and for medical applications. Chemical synthesis of them often requires severe reaction conditions (e.g. strong acid or base, and/or reduced pressure) which sometimes involves environmental problems and large energy consumption. On the other hand, enzyme-catalyzed polymerization proceeds under mild conditions, which is expected to be an alternative candidate process for polyester synthesis. Lipase-catalyzed esterification or transesterification have been greatly studied in recent years. The use in polymerization is more recent. So far, the following monomers have been reported to be polymerized by the catalysis of lipase: hydroxyesters, hydroxyacides, diols-diesters, diols-diacids, anhydrides-diols, lactones, and cyclic carbonates in organic medium. In each case, the number average molecular weight of polymers is generally less than 1000-1500 eq.PS, except when the product is fractionated. The present report is our recent approach in the enzymatic polymerization of long alkylene chain dicarboxylic dimethyl esters with glycols.