Synthesis and characterization of aliphatic copolyesters containing 1,4-bis[(carboxylethoxy)methyl]cyclohexane

A series of aliphatic copolyesters was synthesized using newly prepared cyclohexane-based alicyclic diacid, succinic acid and 1,4-butanediol with various molar ratios, in order to investigate the effects of these compositions on the crystallinity and thermal properties of the aliphatic copolyesters. The structures, average molecular weights and physical properties of the resulting random aliphatic copolyesters were characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction. The results of DSC reveal that thermal and crystallization behaviors depend on the corresponding diacid comonomer (1,4-bis[(carboxylethoxy)methyl]cyclohexane) content in the aliphatic copolymers. However, the crystalline structures of the aliphatic copolyesters and of poly(butylene succinate) homopolymer are identical.