The term pre-polymer refers to a monomer

Monomer

A monomer is an atom or a small molecule that may bind chemically to other monomers to form a polymer; the term "monomeric protein" may also be used to describe one of the proteins making up a multiprotein complex...

 or system of monomers that have been reacted to an intermediate molecular weight state. This material is capable of further polymerization

Polymerization

In polymer chemistry, polymerization is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form three-dimensional networks or polymer chains...

 by reactive groups to a fully cured high molecular weight state. As such, mixtures of reactive polymers with un-reacted monomers may also be referred to as pre-polymers. The term “pre-polymer” and “polymer precursor” may be interchanged.

Lactic acid as a polymer precursor

Two molecule

Molecule

A molecule is an electrically neutral group of at least two atoms held together by covalent chemical bonds. Molecules are distinguished from ions by their electrical charge...

s of lactic acid

Lactic acid

Lactic acid, also known as milk acid, is a chemical compound that plays a role in various biochemical processes and was first isolated in 1780 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Lactic acid is a carboxylic acid with the chemical formula C3H6O3...

 can be dehydrated to lactide

Lactide

Lactide is the cyclic di-ester of lactic acid, i.e., 2-hydroxypropionic acid. Lactic acid cannot form a lactone as other hydroxy acids do because the hydroxy group is too close to the carboxylic group. Instead, lactic acid first forms a dimer, which is similar to a 5-hydroxyacid...

, a cyclic lactone

Lactone

In chemistry, a lactone is a cyclic ester which can be seen as the condensation product of an alcohol group -OH and a carboxylic acid group -COOH in the same molecule...

. A variety of catalysts can polymerise lactide to either heterotactic

Heterotactis

Heterotactis is a genus of moth in the family Cosmopterigidae.-References:*...

 or syndiotactic polylactide, which as biodegradable polyesters with valuable (inter alia) medical properties are currently attracting much attention.

Nowadays, lactic acid is used as a monomer for producing polylactic acid

Polylactic acid

Poly or polylactide is a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch , tapioca products or sugarcanes...

 (PLA) which later has application as biodegradable plastic

Biodegradable plastic

Biodegradable plastics are plastics that will decompose in natural aerobic and anaerobic environments. Biodegradation of plastics can be achieved by enabling microorganisms in the environment to metabolize the molecular structure of plastic films to produce an inert humus-like material that is...

. This kind of plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

 is a good option for substituting conventional plastic produced from petroleum oil because of low emission of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

. The commonly used process in producing lactic acid is via fermentation

Industrial fermentation

Industrial fermentation is the intentional use of fermentation by microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi to make products useful to humans. Fermented products have applications as food as well as in general industry.- Food fermentation :...

, and later to obtain the polylactic acid, the polymerization process follows.