Synthesis of Poly(glycerol butenedioate)—PGB—Unsaturated Polyester toward Biomedical Applications

[Image: see text] A new polyester poly(glycerol butenedioate) (PGB) was obtained in the bulk polycondensation of glycerin and maleic anhydride. Glycerol polyesters are new biomaterials commonly used in tissue engineering. PGB, containing the α,β-unsaturated moiety, could be very interesting due to potential modifications such as additions or oxidation. Such modifications are not possible on the heretofore known glycerol polyesters due to their structure without α,β-unsaturated moieties. In this work, the developed process was optimized by applying the design of experiments. The optimization criterium was the minimization of the E/Z isomer ratio. Applying the two-stage process, the E/Z isomer ratio was reduced from 5.5 to 0.5 compared to the one-stage process. The degree of branching was also reduced from 17 to 9%, as well as the degree of esterification from 0.89 to 0.72. The obtained structure can be used in modifying or cross-linking via Michael additions.