Abstract
A series of L-LA polymerizations initiated by $Sn(Oct)_{2}\;([LA]_{0}/[Sn]_{0}=200)$ were carried out in scR22 at $130^{\circ}C$ and 300 bar, where $[LA]_{0}$ is the initial L-lactide concentration and $[Sn]_{0}$ is the initial $Sn(Oct)_{2}$ concentration. The reaction time dependences of monomer conversion and PLLA MW improved. The monomer conversion and PLLA MW increased with increasing reaction time. The effect of temperature on monomer conversion and PLLA MW was investigated in a series of polymerizations conducted at temperatures ranging from 90 to $150^{\circ}C$ and at a constant pressure of 200 bar. In all of these experiments, the ratio of monomer to R22 concentration was held constant at 12.4 wt.-%. Increasing the reaction temperature from 90 to $130^{\circ}C$ resulted in increased monomer conversion from 11.5 to 72.2 %.