Browsing by Author "Honkalammi, Henri"

Propargyl or methacrylate end-functionalized polylactides are important intermediates in polymer synthesis towards their application in the biomedical field. Through these intermediates hydrophobic polylactides are post polymerized with hydrophilic monomers or coupled with preformed hydrophilic homopolymers to obtain amphiphilic copolymers that possess qualities that they wouldn’t otherwise have. These systems show a unique property: self-assembly into micellar structures that can be utilized in drug delivery applications. Polylactides (PLA) offer biocompatibility and biodegradability to its non-toxic and non-carcinogenic metabolites for these biomedical applications. Understanding the synthesis, modification and processing of PLA in this light is a cornerstone for successful development of new PLA-based biomaterials. This thesis gives an overview of polylactide end functionalization, their post polymerization and documents attempts to synthesize different end functional polylactides. The experimental part of this thesis focuses on the synthesis of propargyl and methacrylate end-functionalized PLA:s with different chain lengths and their characterization with the appropriate polymer characterization techniques.