Superior sequence-controlled poly(L-lactide)-based bioplastic with tunable seawater biodegradation

Developing superior-performance marine-biodegradable plastics remains a critical challenge in mitigating marine plastic pollution. Commercially available biodegradable polymers, such as poly(L-lactide) (PLA), undergo slow degradation in complex marine environments. This study introduces an innovative bioplastic design that employs a facile ring-opening and coupling reaction to incorporate hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) into PLA, yielding PEG-PLA copolymers with either sequence-controlled alternating or random structures. These materials exhibit exceptional toughness in both wet and dry states, with an elongation at break of 1446.8% in the wet state. Specifically, PEG