Study on hydrolytic kinetics of Langmuir monolayers of biodegradable polylactide derivatives

The rate of hydrolysis of Langmuir monolayer films of biodegradable polylactide (PLA) derivates was investigated at the air/water interface. The present study investigated such parameters as surface pressure, pH, and time. The hydrolysis of polyester monolayers depended strongly on the subphase pH, the concentration of active ions. Under the conditions studied here, polymer monolayers showed faster rates of hydrolysis when they were exposed to a basic subphase rather than they did when exposed to acidic or neutral subphases. By increasing the concentration of the degradation medium, the hydrolytic rate of dl-PLA monolayers was accelerated (accelerating effect). In addition, the basic hydrolysis of modified PLA with small amounts of hydrophilic (benzyloxycarbonyl) methyl morpholine-2,5-dione or glycolide was much faster than that of the PLA homopolymer.