1993 Volume 69 Issue 8 Pages 203-207
Enzymatic ring-opening copolymerization of lactones was carried out by using Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase in bulk. In the copolymerizaton of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) and δ-valerolactone at 60°C for 10 days a copolymer with molecular weight of 3.7×103 was obtained and its structure was found to be of random structure having both units from 13C NMR anlaysis. Effects of the feed ratio, the reaction time and temperature on the copolymerization have been examined. The enzymatic copolymerization of ε-CL with other lactones and D-lactide also gave corresponding copolymers.