Physical Effects of Radiation Modification of Biodegradable Xylitol-Based Materials Synthesized Using a Combination of Different Monomers

Abstract

There is a possibility of obtaining xylitol-based elastomers sharing common characteristics of biodegradability, thermal stability, and elastomeric behavior by using monomers with different chain-lengths. Therefore, we have synthesized eight elastomers using a combination of four different diols (ethanediol, 1.3-propanediol, 1.4-buanediol, and 1.5-pentanediol) and two different dicarboxylic acids (succinic acid and adipic acid). The obtained materials were further modified by performing e-beam treatment with a dose of 100 kGy. Materials both before and after radiation modification were tested by DSC, DMTA, TGA, tensile tests, gel fraction determination, hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation tests, 1H NMR and 13C NMR and FTIR.

E-Beam Effects on Poly(Xylitol Dicarboxylate-co-diol Dicarboxylate) Elastomers Tailored by Adjusting Monomer Chain Length

“…There is an additional advantage if such polymers react well to radiation modification, which allows to improve their properties in a time-, energy-, and space-saving way that is easy to control and operate [1]. Such materials described in the literature are polylactide [2][3][4], polycaprolacone, [5,6], poly(butylene succinate) [7], poly(hydroxyalkanoate) [8], poly-(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate [9], and sugar-alcohol-based polyesters [10][11][12]. Materials belonging to this last group are elastomers synthesized by the polycondensation reaction of a sugar alcohol, such as xylitol, and a dicarboxylic acid, which leads to obtaining poly(polyol dicarboxylate) polyesters [13][14][15].…”

“…The properties of sugar-alcohol-based elastomers can be further improved by utilizing a diol as a third monomer, which leads to a poly(polyol dicarboxylate-co-diol dicarboxylate) product. The properties of materials belonging to this group can also by tailored by utilizing different polycondensation times [29], by changing the chain length of dicarboxylic acid [30] or diol [12,31] used for the synthesis, or by changing the hydroxyl group content of the polyol [10,32,33]. Further fine-tuning of their properties can be conducted with 50 to 150 kGy e-beam treatment with doses ranging from 50 to 150 kGy, each leading to slightly different end-product [10,32].…”