Chemistry, Vol 12, No 4 (2019)

Synthesis and properties of biodegradable copolymers based on ε-caprolactam and α-angelicalactone

Konstantin Leonidovich Kaygorodov, Valery Evgenyevich Tarabanko, Andrey Andreeevich Morozov, Marina Aleksandrovna Smirnova

Abstract


Copolymers and block-copolymers of ε-caprolactam, α-angelicalactone and polyangelicalactone were first synthesized by the anionic polymerization method. Yields of polymers and rates of their formation decrease with increasing the α-angelicalactone and polyangelicalactone concentration. Physical and mechanical properties of the obtained copolymers are very close to the properties of polycaprolactam. The synthesized block-copolymers are biodegradable in the grey forest soil, and they are completely visually destroyed during 20 weeks. The water extracts of the biodegradation products are nontoxic.