Amidation of acrylic acid grafted polyethylene film with isopropylamine and temperature‐responsive character of the resulting amidated film

Abstract

AbstractAn acrylic acid (AA) grafted polyethylene (PE) film with a homogeneous distribution of grafted chains was prepared by the photografting of AA onto a low‐density PE film with a thickness of 30 μm. The AA‐grafted PE film was subjected to amidation with isopropylamine (IPA) at 25°C in water as a solvent. Up to 80 mol % of the carboxyl groups of the AA‐grafted chains could be successfully converted to N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) residues through the control of the amidation conditions, such as the reaction time, amount of the condensation reagent, and concentration of IPA. The resulting amidated PE film exhibited a temperature‐responsive character: the film swelled and shrank in water below and above a temperature range of about 40–60°C, respectively. The extent of the character of the amidated PE film was greater than that of NIPAAm‐ and NIPAAm/AA‐grafted PE films prepared by the photografting of NIPAAm monomer and NIPAAm/AA binary monomers, respectively. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009