Ceric-induced grafting of methyl acrylate onto sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated sodium alginate

Abstract

Abstract Grafting of methyl acrylate (MA) onto the sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated sodium alginate (Na-PCMSA, DS =1.625) has been carried out using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as a redox initiator in an aqueous medium. The optimized reaction conditions affording maximum percentage of grafting are determined by varying the concentrations of nitric acid, CAN, Na-PCMSA and MA, and also temperature and time. The effects of these parameters on the grafting yields and the rates of polymerization, graft copolymerization and homopolymerization have also been studied and the results are discussed. The overall activation energy for grafting has been found to be 32.4 kJ/mol. The overall thermal stability of Na-PCMSA has been found to decrease as a result of the grafting.