Synthesis and characterization of poly(lactic acid-co-mandelic acid)s by direct solution polycondensation

To improve the thermal and mechanical properties of home poly(L-lactic acid), DL-mandelic acid, one of the natural alpha-hydroxy acid with aromatic ring as the side-chain residue was used as the comonomer. Copolymers with different contents of mandelic acid were prepared and characterized. The resulting copolymers were mostly amorphous. As the amount of mandelic acid in the monomer feed increased, the molecular weight of the resulting polymers tended to decrease linearly. T-g and T-d Of the copolymer, however, were found to shift toward higher temperature, suggesting the improved thermal stability by increasing content of mandelic acid moiety. Tensile measurements of cast films showed somewhat improved values in the copolymers with mandelic acid content of 5 and 10 wt%.