Briefly, the procedure is as follows: glycolic acid is heated at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of about 175 to 185 °C is maintained until water ceases to distill.

Subsequently, pressure is reduced to 150 mm Hg, still keeping the temperature unaltered for about two hours and the low MW polyglycolide is obtained.

[4] The most common synthesis used to produce a high molecular weight form of the polymer is ring-opening polymerization of "glycolide", the cyclic diester of glycolic acid.

[4][5][6] The procedure followed for ring-opening polymerization is briefly outlined: a catalytic amount of initiator is added to glycolide under a nitrogen atmosphere at a temperature of 195 °C.

[4] Another procedure consists in the thermally induced solid-state polycondensation of halogenoacetates with general formula X-—CH2COO−M+ (where M is a monovalent metal like sodium and X is a halogen like chlorine), resulting in the production of polyglycolide and small crystals of a salt.

[7] PGA can also be obtained by reacting carbon monoxide, formaldehyde or one of its related compounds like paraformaldehyde or trioxane, in presence of an acidic catalyst.

However, in 1962 this polymer was used to develop the first synthetic absorbable suture which was marketed under the tradename of Dexon[1] by the Davis & Geck subsidiary of the American Cyanamid Corporation.

Tissue engineering scaffolds made with polyglycolide have been produced following different approaches, but generally most of these are obtained through textile technologies in the form of non-woven felts.

The Kureha Chemical Industries has commercialized high molecular weight polyglycolide for food packaging applications under the tradename of Kuredux.

[12] Its attributes as a barrier material result from its high degree of crystallization, the basis for a tortuous path mechanism for low permeability.

A low molecular weight version (approximately 600 amu) is available from The Chemours Company (formerly part of DuPont) and is purported to be useful in oil and gas applications.