TY - JOUR A1 - Kricheldorf, H. R. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Meyer, A. T1 - High Tm linear poly(L-lactide)s prepared via alcohol-initiated ROPs of L-lactide T2 - RSC Advances N2 - Alcohol-initiated ROPs of L-lactide were performed in bulk at 160 °C for 72 h with variation of the catalyst or with variation of the initiator (aliphatic alcohols). Spontaneous crystallization was only observed when cyclic Sn(II) compounds were used as a catalyst. Regardless of initiator, high melting crystallites with melting temperatures (Tm) of 189–193 °C were obtained in almost all experiments with Sn(II) 2,2′-dioxybiphenyl (SnBiph) as catalyst, even when the time was shortened to 24 h. These HTm poly(lactide)s represent the thermodynamically most stable form of poly(L-lactide). Regardless of the reaction conditions, such high melting crystallites were never obtained when Sn(II) 2-ethylhexanoate (SnOct2) was used as catalyst. SAXS measurements evidenced that formation of HTm poly(L-lactide) involves growth of the crystallite thickness, but chemical modification of the crystallite surface (smoothing) seems to be of greater importance. A hypothesis, why the “surface smoothing” is more effective for crystallites of linear chains than for crystallites composed of cycles is discussed. PB - Royal Society of Chemistry KW - Polylactide KW - MALDI-TOF MS KW - Ring-opening polymerization PY - 2021 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/52433 AN - OPUS4-52433 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-524330 VL - 11 IS - 23 SP - 14093 EP - 14102 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany