Hydrolytic degradation of biobased poly(butylene succinate-co-furandicarboxylate) and poly(butylene adipate-co-furandicarboxylate) copolyesters under mild conditions

It is indispensable to investigate hydrolytic degradation behavior to develop novel (bio) degradable polyesters. Biobased and biodegradable copolyesters poly(butylene adipate-co-butylene furandicarboxylate) (PBAF) and poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene furandicarboxylate) (PBSF) with BF molar fraction (phi(BF)) between 40 and 60% were synthesized in this study. The hydrolytic degradation of film samples was conducted in a pH 7.0 PBS buffer solution at 25 degrees C. Slight mass loss (1-2%) but significant decrease in intrinsic viscosity (35-44%) was observed after 22 weeks. The apparent hydrolytic degradation rate decreased with increasing phi(BF) and initial crystallinity. Meanwhile, PBAFs degraded slightly faster than PBSFs with the same composition. The phi(BF) and crystallinity increased slowly with degradation time, suggesting the aliphatic moiety and the amorphous region are more susceptible to hydrolysis. And high enough tensile properties were retained after hydrolysis degradation, indicating PBAF and PBSF copolyesters are hydrolytically degradable, with tunable hydrolytic degradation rate and good balance between hydrolytic degradability and durability. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.