More Precise Control of the In Vitro Enzymatic Degradation via Ternary Self-Blending of High/Medium/Low Molecular Weight Poly(trimethylene carbonate)

Abstract

To more precisely control the degradation rate of poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC), self-blending films were prepared via the ternary self-blending of pure PTMC with a molecular weight of 334, 152, and 57 kg/mol. The in vitro enzymolysis degradation of the ternary self-blending films was performed in lipase solutions. The results showed that ternary self-blending could control the degradation of PTMC by adjusting the mass ratio of high/medium/low molecular weight PTMC in the composition, and the PTMC334/PTMC152/PTMC57 films with a mass ratio of 1/4/16 showed mass loss of 85.96% after seven weeks of degradation, while that of PTMC334/PTMC152/PTMC57 films with a mass ratio of 1/1/1 was 96.39%. The former and latter’s degradation rate constant was 13.263 and 23.981%/w, respectively, and the former presented better morphology stability than the latter. The strategy of ternary self-blending could simultaneously bestow PTMC with a lower degradation rate and good morphology stability, indicating that ternary self-blending is an efficient way to control the degradation performance of PTMC more precisely.