Preliminary studies of PLA synthesis by acid catalysis

JANET DE LOS ANGELES CHINELLATO; GOMEZ, CESAR G.; RAMSÉS MELEÁN; FACUNDO MATTEA; MARCELO R. ROMERO

Revista de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas (RevICAp)

Facultad de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Industria

Lugar: San Rafael, Mendoza; Año: 2023 vol. 1 p. 43 - 43

2796-9444

olylactic acid (PLA) is a synthetic polyester of great commercial value due to its renewable origin, biocompatible, biodegradable, bioresorbable, and mechanical properties. Consequently, there is a great interest in the development of alternative synthetic routes for obtaining PLA that allow for the substitution of the conventional tin octanoate-catalyzed method. Due to the cytotoxicity of this catalyst and its occlusion in the network after polymerization, more environmentally friendly synthetic alternatives are being sought. For this reason, a two-step synthesis route catalyzed successively with sulfuric acid and biocompatible metals was designed. In this work, the optimization of the first step was performed, which consists in a Fischer esterification of lactic acid using acid as catalyst. To determine the best conditions, a catalyst concentration was carried out in the range of 0 to 3% v/v. According to the obtained results, optimal catalyst concentration conditions were found tha