CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Organic Materials 2021; 03(01): 041-050
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1722698
Emerging Stars in Organic and Polymer Materials
Review

Controlled Ring-Opening Polymerization of O-Carboxyanhydrides to Synthesize Functionalized Poly(α-Hydroxy Acids)

Xiaoqian Wang#
a   Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 635 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, United States
,
Ai Lin Chin#
a   Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 635 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, United States
,
a   Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 635 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, United States
› Author Affiliations
Funding Information This work was supported by start-up funding from Virginia Tech, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (57926-DNI-7), and the National Science Foundation (CHE-1807911).


Abstract

Poly(α-hydroxy acids), as a family of biodegradable polyesters, are valuable materials due to their broad applications in packaging, agriculture, and biomedical engineering. Herein we highlight and explore recent advances of catalysts in controlled ring-opening polymerization of O-carboxyanhydrides towards functionalized poly(α-hydroxy acids), especially metal catalyst-mediated controlled polymerization. Limitations of current polymerization strategies of O-carboxyanhydrides are discussed.

  1. Introduction

  2. Organocatalysts for O-Carboxyanhydride Polymerization

  3. Metal Catalysts for O-Carboxyanhydride Polymerization

  4. Stereoselective and Stereosequence-Controlled Polymerization of O-Carboxyanhydrides

  5. Conclusions and Outlook

# These authors contributed equally.




Publication History

Received: 01 December 2020

Accepted: 21 December 2020

Article published online:
25 January 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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