Synthesis Of Chitosan-Poly(Glycolic Acid) Graft Copolymer

Chitosan is the deacetylated derivative of chitin that is the second most abundant polysaccharide found on earth next to cellulose. Chitosan has a great potential for a wide range of uses due to its biodegradability, biocompatibility, antimicrobial activity, nontoxicity, and versatile chemical and physical properties. Poly glycolic acid is one kind of simple polyester with excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility.it was first one used as commercial surgical suture.In spite of many successful applications of chitosan in the biomedical fields, the mechanical properties of chitosan become a main concern when it is used in vivo in cartilage, ligament, and bone tissue engineering due to the high hydrophilicity of chitosan. And we graft the poly glycolic acid to chitosan, to improve the mechanical properties of chitosan. And the acidic environment produced during the degradation of PGA will be improved too.In our article, we prepared the copolymer of chitosan and poly glycolic acid, using glycolic acid. First we use benzaldehyde and phthalic anhydride to synthesis a Schiff base with part of the amino . We can get a copolymer by the copolymerization of glycolic acid and the rest of the amino of the Schiff base. And then remove the Schiff base .We get the final product, chitosan-poly(glycolic acid) graft copolymer. Compared with chitosan, the copolymer has better thermal stability. We need to improve synthetic method of the whole process of synthesis.