Exploiting sequence to control the hydrolysis behavior of biodegradable PLGA copolymers.

Monomer sequence is a potentially powerful but underutilized tool for the control of copolymer properties. Sequence is demonstrated to dramatically affect the hydrolysis profile for the degradation of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), a member of the most widely used class of biodegradable polymers employed in biomedical applications. The nearly linear molecular weight loss profile and uniform thermal behavior throughout the course of the hydrolysis differ dramatically from the behavior that is exhibited by random copolymer controls with the same comonomer ratio.