Synthesis and characterization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) macromer of bacterial origin

A poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) macromer of bacterial origin, has been succ essfully synthesized by alcoholysis of bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) in to prepolymer, then followed by selective maleation of the chain-end group. Thus, this macromer is provided with a double bond in addition to a hydrox yl at the two respective chain ends, which is useful for constructing newly structural molecules based on PHB segments to meet with special biomedical applications. The molecular weight distribution of the macromer is rather narrow and the chain length could be easily controlled by the alcoholysis t ime. An accurate characterization of the prepolymer and the macromer using H-1-NMR, gel permeation chromatography, UV and hydroxyl titration brought c onclusive evidence of the success of this work. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.