Thermoresponsive lactate amide acrylic polymers developed from PLA bags†

The growing global demand for sustainable products, driven by the depletion of fossil resources and mounting environmental concerns, has amplified interest in transforming lignocellulosic biomass into bio-based solvents, fine chemicals, and polymers. Among these, lactic acid has emerged as a pivotal platform chemical for synthesizing high-value derivatives. The chemical depolymerization of polylactic acid (PLA) into lactate esters and amides represents a straightforward and efficient strategy for upcycling PLA waste into specialty polymers. In this study, we developed a mini-library of lactate amide-based acrylic monomers using commercially available PLA bags as feedstock. These monomers were polymerized into homo, statistical, and block copolymers via Cu(ii)Br₂/Me₆TREN-mediated polymerization under UV light. The resulting polymers exhibited water solubility adjustable through amide N-substitution combined with low ecotoxicity. This innovative approach not only advances sustainable PLA waste management but also opens new possibilities for designing advanced thermoresponsive polymers with single or double phase separation behaviors—an underexplored frontier in biobased synthetic polymer research.