Novel Glycopolymers Based on d-Mannose and Methacrylates: Synthesis, Thermal Stability and Biodegradability Testing

This paper presents the synthesis, thermal stability and biodegradability of new d-mannose glycopolymers. These glycopolymers have been obtained by free radical bulk copolymerization of d-mannose based glycomonomer, 1-O-(2′-hydroxy-3′-methacryloyloxypropyl)-2,3:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-d-mannofuranose (Mm), and respectively d-mannose derived oligomer (Mo) with methyl methacrylate and respectively 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate. The chemical structures of Mm and Mo have been confirmed via FTIR, ¹H-NMR and HPLC–MS spectroscopy. The copolymerization process has been investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, which allowed calculating the activation energies by applying Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose method. The glycopolymers are thermally stable, fact assessed by TG analysis; their glass transition temperature exceeds 50 °C, so they are part of the glassy class of polymers. The biodegradability of these glycopolymers has been investigated in vitro, using pure cultures of Zymomonas mobilis and Trichoderma reesei. The glycopolymers lose up to 55 % weight in just 14 days of incubation as their surface and composition is altered by colonies of microorganisms that grow on/into them, fact demonstrated using SEM/EDX.