Morphology and degradation of biodegradable poly(L‐lactide‐co‐β‐malic acid)

Poly( L ‐lactide‐co‐β‐malic acid) was obtained after the hydrogenolysis of the copolymer of L ‐lactide (L‐LA) and β‐benzyl malate (MA). 1 H‐NMR demonstrated that the composition of the copolymer was identical to the feeding dose. Thermal property study revealed the morphology of the copolymer could be changed from semi‐crystalline to amorphous with increasing hydrophilic β‐malic acid content. The copolymers with 8 and 13 mol% β‐malic acid content possessed enough mechanical property for fabricating cell scaffold. Degradation result demonstrated that most of the hydrophilic β‐malic acid units broke down from the copolymer within 1 week and the ester bond between L ‐lactide and β‐malic acid hydrolyzed prior to the inner ester bond of poly( L ‐lactide) (PLLA).