• Macromolecular Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.408-415
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• 2006

Temperature-dependent, wide-angle, x-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns and infrared (IR) spectra were measured for biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and its copolymers, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) P(HB-co-HHx) (HHx=2.5, 3.4, 10.5, and 12 mol%), in order to explore their crystal and lamellar structure and their pattern of C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding. The WAXD patterns showed that the P(HB-co-HHx) copolymers have the same orthorhombic system as PHB. It was found from the temperature-dependent WAXD measurements of PHB and P(HB-co-HHx) that the a lattice parameter is more enlarged than the b lattice parameter during heating and that only the a lattice parameter shows reversibility during both heating and cooling processes. These observations suggest that an interaction occurs along the a axis in PHB and P(HB-co-HHx). This interaction seems to be due to an intermolecular C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding between the C=O group in one helical structure and the $CH_3$ group in the other helical structure. The x-ray crystallographic data of PHB showed that the distance between the O atom of the C=O group in one helical structure and the H atom of one of the three C-H bonds of the $CH_3$ group in the other helix structure is $2.63{\AA}$, which is significantly shorter than the sum of the van der Waals separation ($2.72{\AA}$). This result and the appearance of the $CH_3$ asymmetric stretching band at $3009 cm^{-1}$ suggest that there is a C-H...O=C hydrogen bond between the C=O group and the $CH_3$ group in PHB and P(HB-co-HHx). The temperature-dependent WAXD and IR measurements revealed that the crystallinity of P(HB-co-HHx) (HHx =10.5 and 12 mol%) decreases gradually from a fairly low temperature, while that of PHB and P(HB-co-HHx) (HHx = 2.5 and 3.5 mol%) remains almost unchanged until just below their melting temperatures. It was also shown from our studies that the weakening of the C-H...O = C interaction starts from just above room temperature and proceeds gradually increasing temperature. It seems that the C-H...O=C hydrogen bonding stabilizes the chain holding in the lamellar structure and affects the thermal behaviour of PHB and its copolymers.