New Polylactide-Based Materials by Chemical Crosslinking of PLA

The ongoing interest of researchers in bioderived polylactide (PLA) is due to the current tendency to replace petroleum-based plastics with polymers from renewable resources. Polylactide fits this trend because of its mechanical properties resembling those of some petroleum-based polymers commonly applied in daily life and because of its degradability. Added value is the excellent biocompatibility of PLA thanks to which it has found an application in biomedicine. This great interest in polylactide is reflected in the literature. Crosslinking of polylactide was also studied by many authors as an easy method of the improvement and the modification of its properties (thermal, mechanical, rheological, degradability) according to requirements of existing or possible applications. In the present review, the examples of polylactide and its copolymers crosslinking by chemical approaches described in the literature are presented. Thus, chemical methods including peroxide-induced radical crosslinking and crosslinking by coupling of functional PLA prepolymers via condensation/addition reactions are discussed. The results of PLA modification and examples of new, interesting materials obtained via different crosslinking methods are shown.