Abstract:
Plastic materials are indispensable to every day but, after their life cycle, they tend to become long-term
pollutants. That is the reason why, nowadays, a keen interest is dedicated to research in the field of biodegradable and
biocompatible plastic materials. This paper describes the thermal properties of a new class of biodegradable copolymers
based on carbohydrates. A new oligomer based on D-mannose was synthesized by polycondensation of 1-benzyl-5,6-
(bis(maleyloxy))-2,3-isopropylidene-D-mannofuranose with propane-1,3-diol in the presence of p-toluenesulfonic acid.
The copolymerization process between D-mannose based oligomer and 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate was studied by
DSC technique, while the thermal stability of the copolymers was assessed via thermogravimetry. The structure of the
copolymers was confirmed by FTIR spectrometry. The activation energies for the copolymerization process and for the
thermal decomposition of the new copolymers were calculated using Ozawa method.
