Thermodynamic and stereochemical aspects of the polymerizability of glycolide and lactide

The ring-opening polymerizations of the dilactones glycolide and the S,S- and S,R-stereoisomers of lactide were studied using quantum mechanical methods. The ring strain and the conformational distribution of these cyclic monomers and of the polymers were calculated, and the effect of the medium on the polymerization was predicted, for both bulk and solution. The polymerizability of the three monomers in the gas phase, that is, nonpolar medium, is much greater than that of delta-valerolactone or 1,4-dioxan-2-one. This difference vanishes in the polar medium chloroform, which is attributed to the fact that, while all of these monomers possess polar cis-lactone bonds, the three dilactones possess small dipole moments. The data are combined to give polymerization enthalpy and free energy values. The four stereoregular lactide polymers did not differ significantly in energy. Accordingly, the ability to synthesize any one of these rests on catalyst specificity ("polymer chain-end control"). Although introduction of sterically demanding methyl groups into glycolide is expected to favor coiled conformations and decrease polymerizability, this was not found to be the case. Good agreement of calculated values with experimental data from the literature was achieved.