Abstract：Polyglycolic acid (PGA) is the simplest linear aliphatic polyester with high mechanical strength, high gas barrier property, biocompatibility and biodegradability. It can be applied in many fields such as biomedicine, packaging, mining. In this paper, the research progress in the polymerization mechanism and synthetic methods especially direct polycondensation method, ring-opening polymerization method and new synthetic methods for polyglycolic acid is summarized. Furthermore, the characteristics and limitations of each synthesis method are discussed.
