Crystallization of polycaprolactone with low coverage of cyclodextrin

Abstract

Crystallization kinetics of polycaprolactone (PCL) with low content of α-cyclodextrin (CD) was investigated. It was found that disordered CD can promote nucleation of PCL significantly after electrospinning, which is possibly related to CD induced slower relaxation of chain deformation. For CDs in the form of channel structure, crystallization of PCL can be either decelerated or accelerated. The opposite trend probably comes from restricted chain diffusion and confinement induced chain extension, respectively, which depends on the distribution of CDs in the initial solution. These results show a simple way to modify chain relaxation and conformation of PCL by blending, which affects the crystallization in different ways.