Recent Advances in the Functionalized Poly(α-Hydroxy Acids) Synthesized from O-Carboxyanhydrides

Poly(α-hydroxy acids) are a class of biodegradable polyesters with many potential uses in diverse fields such as packaging, agriculture, and biomedical engineering. Herein we focus on the recent developments of synthesizing functionalized poly(α-hydroxy acids) materials via the controlled ring-opening polymerization of O-carboxyanhydrides, and we provide a perspective on the relationship between the structures and properties of the obtained polyesters.