Patent ID: 8912232

Claim:
An oligomeric lactic acid composition comprising oligomeric lactic acids having the following formula I wherein n is an integer from about 1 to 25, and wherein the oligomeric lactic acids are selected from oligomeric lactic acids from about OL1 to OL10 containing Component OL1 OL2 OL3 OL4 OL5 meso-lactide [% (w/w)] <0.1 V<0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 D + L lactide [% (w/w)] 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.5 1.4 HL [% (w/w)] 10.5 7.2 6.1 4.2 3.2 HL 2 [% (w/w)] 17.2 12.5 9.8 6.4 5.2 HL 3 [% (w/w)] 19.6 15.3 12.3 9.0 7.5 HL 4 [% (w/w)] 16.0 13.9 12.2 9.9 8.3 HL 5 [% (w/w)] 12.0 11.8 11.0 9.5 8.5 HL 6 [% (w/w)] 8.6 9.8 9.5 8.9 8.2 HL 7 [% (w/w)] 6.3 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.4 HL 8 [% (w/w)] 4.2 6.0 6.6 7.2 7.1 HL 9 [% (w/w)] 2.8 5.0 5.8 6.4 6.7 HL 10 [% (w/w)] 1.9 3.4 4.5 5.7 6.2 HL 11 [% (w/w)] 1.1 2.6 3.6 4.6 5.3 HL 12 [% (w/w)] 0.8 1.9 2.9 4.0 4.7 HL 13 [% (w/w)] 0.5 1.3 2.1 3.2 4.0 HL 14 [% (w/w)] 0.2 1.0 1.7 2.7 3.4 HL 15 [% (w/w)] <0.1 0.5 1.0 1.9 2.8 HL 16 [% (w/w)] <0.1 0.5 0.8 1.8 2.5 HL 17 [% (w/w)] <0.1 <0.1 0.8 1.6 2.2 HL 18 [% (w/w)] <0.1 <0.1 0.6 1.5 1.9 Sum HL 1 t/m 18 [% (w/w)] about about about 98.7 97.5 100 100 100 Component OL6 OL7 OL8 OL9 OL10 meso-lactide [% (w/w)] <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 D + L lactide [% (w/w)] 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 HL [% (w/w)] 5.1 3.0 2.5 1.6 0.9 HL 2 [% (w/w)] 7.7 5.6 4.1 2.7 2.0 HL 3 [% (w/w)] 10.1 7.0 5.7 4.0 3.0 HL 4 [% (w/w)] 10.8 8.1 6.5 4.6 3.5 HL 5 [% (w/w)] 10.3 8.2 6.8 5.0 4.2 HL 6 [% (w/w)] 9.1 7.9 6.7 5.3 4.4 HL 7 [% (w/w)] 8.9 8.2 7.3 5.9 5.1 HL 8 [% (w/w)] 7.2 6.7 6.3 5.3 4.9 HL 9 [% (w/w)] 6.2 6.1 5.9 5.3 4.7 HL 10 [% (w/w)] 5.5 6.1 5.6 5.1 4.5 HL 11 [% (w/w)] 4.4 4.9 5.2 4.9 4.4 HL 12 [% (w/w)] 3.6 4.2 4.4 4.4 4.3 HL 13 [% (w/w)] 3.0 3.6 4.0 4.1 3.9 HL 14 [% (w/w)] 2.5 3.1 3.2 3.8 3.6 HL 15 [% (w/w)] 1.7 2.4 2.7 3.3 3.3 HL 16 [% (w/w)] 1.4 2.2 2.5 3.4 3.1 HL 17 [% (w/w)] 1.2 1.9 2.4 2.3 2.8 HL 18 [% (w/w)] 0.9 1.5 2.0 2.5 2.5 Sum HL 1 t/m 18 [% (w/w)] about 92.2 85.6 75.4 67.3 100 wherein HL corresponds to the monomeric lactic acid, HL 2 to the dimer, HL 3 to the trimer.