Theoretical Prediction of Molecular Weight on Autocatalytic Random Hydrolysis of Aliphatic Polyesters

A new prediction model for the autocatalytic random hydrolysis of aliphatic polyesters is proposed. The model predicts changes in the number- and weight-average degrees of polymerization. The model enables to avoid certain errors liable to occur in the estimation of hydrolysis with only the number-average molecular weight. The prediction model successfully interpreted the hydrolysis data of some aliphatic polyesters, such as poly(p-dioxanone), poly(β-propiolactone), poly(l-lactic acid), etc.