Aqueous polymer dispersions are commodity
materials produced on
a multimillion-ton scale annually. Today none of these materials are
biodegradable because the process by which they are made is not compatible
with the synthesis of biodegradable polymers. Herein, we report a
droplet microfluidic encapsulation strategy for protecting a water
incompatible ring-opening polymerization (ROP) catalyst from the aqueous
phase, yielding biodegradable polymer particles dispersed in water.
Polymerization yields 300 μm sized particles comprised of biodegradable
poly(δ-valerolactone) with molecular weights up to 19.5 kg mol–1. The success of this approach relies on simultaneous
precise control of the kinetics of polymerization, the rate of mass
transfer, and fluid mechanics. The power of this methodology was demonstrated
by the synthesis of cross-linked polymer particles through the copolymerization
of bis(ε-caprolactone-4-yl)propane and δ-valerolactone,
producing cross-linked polymer particles with molecular weights reaching
65.3 kg mol–1. Overall, this encapsulation technique
opens the door for the synthesis of biodegradable polymer latex and
processable, biodegradable elastomers.
The droplet viscosity, surface tension, and hydrophobicity is tuned to explore the parameters that enable successful ring-opening polymerization in an aqueous dispersion.
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