Question

What happens when lactic acid reacts with glycolic acid?

Answer 1

Hint: Glycolic acid is a monomer of Polyglycolic acid which is a thermoplastic polymer. And, lactic acid is a monomer of Polylactic acid which is also thermoplastic polyester. These two monomers react to produce a copolymer.

Complete step by step answer:
As we know lactic acid and glycolic acid as monomers of poly lactic and polyglycolic acid respectively, they both will react together to form copolymer which is commercially known as dextron. The chemical reaction of glycolic acid and lactic acid is given as:

The compound obtained from the above reaction is also known as poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) or PLGA. This is a type of polyester and was the first biodegradable polyester produced. Depending upon the ratio of lactic acid and glycolic acid the copolymer produced exhibits the property of being crystalline or amorphous.
Additional Information: The PLGA finds its application in the biological industry as its monomers lactic acid and glycolic acid as metabolically handled by the Human body and they will be less toxic and hence they are also used for drug delivery inside the body. The monomers of lactic acid and glycolic acid are alpha hydroxy acids and are widely used in the cosmetic industry

Note:
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) is synthetic, biodegradable thermoplastic material and is approved to be used in biomedical applications such as drug delivery systems and degradable sutures. Its degradation process is very slow and it degrades due to hydrolysis of its ester linkages in presence of water. The rate of degradation can be controlled by altering the ratio of lactic acid and glycolic acid, the time required for degradation is inversely proportional to the units of glycolide.