Abstract: In order to improve the thermal performance and hydrophilcity of poly(lactic acid) materials, the copolymers such as poly(L-lactic acid-co-glucose) (PLLAG) and poly(-lactic acid-co-glucose) (PDLAG) were prepared by direct polymerization with lactic acid and glucose as raw materials. Then the stereocomplex of PLLAG and PDLAG were prepared by solution blending method, and thus stereocomplex materials of poly(lactic acid) with glucose groups (sc-PLAG) were obtained. sc-PLAG was charterized by FT-IR, DSC, XRD, POM and contact angle method. The results showed that stereocomplex crystal (SC) of sc-PLAG was formed by the interaction between L-lactic acid units of PLLAG and D-lactic acid units of PDLAG at rapid crystallization rate, and SC possessed regular spherulite morphology. sc-PLAG only possessed stereocomplex crystalline as the mass contents of PLLAG in sc-PLAG were from 40% to 60%, and sc-PLAG might have homogeneous crystalline (HC) and SC as the amounts of PLLAG in sc-PLAG were more than 60% or less than 40%. The melt points (T_m) of stereocomplex crystal of all sc-PLAG samples with the mass fraction of glucose 5% were 197.5℃, nearly irrelevant to PLLAG amount. The glass transition temperature(T_g) of sc-PLAG, T_m of SC, and the contact angle of sc-PLAG decreased with increasing glucose mass fraction, while sc-PLAG crystallinity increased with increasing glucose mass fraction, reaching to the maximum of 53.84%. In conclusion, the stereocomplex of poly(L-lactic acid) with glucose groups improves the crystallization, hydrophilcity, and thermal performance.

Key words: poly(L-lactic acid), glucose, poly(lactic acid)-co-glucose copolymer, stereocomplex