Process for producing lactic acid-based copolyester and packaging material

• Main Authors: EBATO, HIROSHI, ARAI, KOSUKE, OYA, SATOSHI, KAKIZAWA, YASUTOSHI, FURUTA, HIDEYUKI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 05.10.1994
• Edition: 5
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON; COMPOSITIONS OF MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED OTHERWISE THAN BY REACTIONSONLY INVOLVING UNSATURATED CARBON-TO-CARBON BONDS; METALLURGY; ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP

A process for producing a lactic acid-based copolyester by the ring-opening copolymerization and transesterification of a lactide (A) with an aromatic polyester (B) and/or an aliphatic polyester (C) in the presence of a ring-opening polymerization catalyst (D), and a packaging material comprising the lactic acid-based copolyester obtained by the process are disclosed. According to the present invention, a lactic acid-based degradable copolyester which has a sufficiently high molecular weight and satisfactory toughness and also has suitable rigidity, pliability, and transparency according to applications can be produced. Further, a general-purpose packaging material, e.g., a sheet or film, which comprises the lactic acid-based copolyester produced by the process and is excellent in formability, degradability, and transparency can also be produced.