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. 2017 Jul 4;10(7):748. doi: 10.3390/ma10070748

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Polymerization of lactic acid to produce polylactic acid (PLA). Lactic acid cannot be polymerized directly as the water produced prevents the polymerization process. The acid is therefore first dimerized by heating and afterwards dimer undergoes ring opening polymerization using tin octanoate as a catalyst. This method avoids the formation of water during polymerization [7].