This two-year award for US-France cooperative research in biomaterials involves David L. Kaplan of Tufts University, Richard Gross of Polytechnic University, Phillipe Guerin and Sandrine Cammas of the University of Paris, Val de Marne. Their research is focused on the synthesis of polyester using enzymatic polymerization of lactones. The US team brings to this collaboration expertise in the use of enzymes to catalyze polymerization reactions, in particular, lactone reactions. This is complemented by French expertise in the preparation of complex monomers by both chemical and enzymatic methods.
Polyesters are an important family of polymers for a wide range of commodity and biomedical applications. The polymerization of lactones to form polyesters is a chemical process and the ability to synthesize lactones by traditional chemical methods is limited. The investigators propose to test new synthetic options, including those developed by the French team. Their combined effort will advance understanding of enzyme-based lactone polymerization, an area of interest to both the medical community and polymer scientists.
