Enzymatic Synthesis and Characterization of Hydrophilic Sugar Based Polyesters and Their Modification with Stearic Acid.

Biodegradable and hydrophilic functional polyesters were synthesized enzymatically using xylitol or d-sorbitol together with divinyl adipate and lipase B from (CAL-B). The resulting polyesters had pendant OH-groups from their sugar units which were esterified to different degrees with stearic acid chloride. The structure and the degrees of polymerization of the resulting graft copolymers based on poly(xylitol adipate) and poly(d-sorbitol adipate) were characterized by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and SEC.

Photo-Responsive Shape-Memory and Shape-Changing Liquid-Crystal Polymer Networks.

"Surrounding matters" is a phrase that has become more significant in recent times when discussing polymeric materials. Although regular polymers do respond to external stimuli like softening of material at higher temperatures, that response is gradual and linear in nature. Smart polymers (SPs) or stimuli-responsive polymers (SRPs) behave differently to those external stimuli, as their behavior is more rapid and nonlinear in nature and even a small magnitude of external stimulus can cause noticeable changes in their shape, size, color or conductivity.