{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T04:29:04Z","timestamp":1773116944030,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":106,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,7]],"date-time":"2022-04-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1649289600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvol-vimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico - CNPq, Brazil), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o de Aperfei\u00e7oamento de Pessoal de","award":["grant #2015\/20630-4 S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation and grant #2021\/05719-0 S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["grant #2015\/20630-4 S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation and grant #2021\/05719-0 S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation"]}]},{"name":"the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT\/MCT) and European Funds (PRODER\/COMPETE)","award":["UIDB\/04469\/2020 (strategic fund)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/04469\/2020 (strategic fund)"]}]},{"name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Carolina (Movilidad de profesorado Brasil-Espa\u00f1a, Movilidad. Estancias de Investigaci\u00f3n","award":["(C.2020) granted to PS"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(C.2020) granted to PS"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Bioengineering"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Lactide dimer is an important monomer produced from lactic acid dehydration, followed by the prepolymer depolymerization process, and subsequent purification. As lactic acid is a chiral molecule, lactide can exist in three isomeric forms: L-, D-, and meso-lactide. Due to its time-consuming synthesis and the need for strict temperature and pressure control, catalyst use, low selectivity, high energy cost, and racemization, the value of a high purity lactide has a high cost in the market; moreover, little is found in scientific articles about the monomer synthesis. Lactide use is mainly for the synthesis of high molar mass poly(lactic acid) (PLA), applied as bio-based material for medical applications (e.g., prostheses and membranes), drug delivery, and hydrogels, or combined with other polymers for applications in packaging. This review elucidates the configurations and conditions of syntheses mapped for lactide production, the main properties of each of the isomeric forms, its industrial production, as well as the main applications in the market.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bioengineering9040164","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,7]],"date-time":"2022-04-07T13:39:51Z","timestamp":1649338791000},"page":"164","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":58,"title":["Lactide: Production Routes, Properties, and Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Bruna L. C.","family":"Cunha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (UNIFESP), Diadema 09913-030, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7885-2559","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juliana O.","family":"Bah\u00fa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Let\u00edcia F.","family":"Xavier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (UNIFESP), Diadema 09913-030, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Sara","family":"Crivellin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Samuel D. A.","family":"de Souza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Leandro","family":"Lodi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Science and Technology, Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL), Po\u00e7os de Caldas 37715-400, Minas Gerais, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9381-9335","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9 L.","family":"Jardini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"given":"Rubens Maciel","family":"Filho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0867-9663","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria I. R. B.","family":"Schiavon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas 13083-852, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3520-4535","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Viktor O. C\u00e1rdenas","family":"Concha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (UNIFESP), Diadema 09913-030, S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6527-6612","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patricia","family":"Severino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine (LNMed), Institute of Technology and Research (ITP), Av. Murilo Dantas, 300, Aracaju 49010-390, Sergipe, Brazil"},{"name":"Industrial Biotechnology Program, University of Tiradentes (UNIT), Av. Murilo Dantas, 300, Aracaju 49010-390, Sergipe, Brazil"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9737-6017","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eliana B.","family":"Souto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"REQUIMTE\/UCIBIO, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catcom.2018.06.003","article-title":"One-Step Synthesis of Stereo-Pure L,L Lactide from L-Lactic Acid","volume":"114","author":"Ghadamyari","year":"2018","journal-title":"Catal. 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