Composition of methyl methacrylate‐grafted cellulose

Abstract

AbstractGraft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate on cellulose samples was carried out using various initiator systems, and extraction treatment was performed on the copolymers with 50% to 300% grafting by weight. Adding of ceric ion to a suspension of cellulose and methyl methacrylate in water resulted in more efficient grafting than other methods. That is, amount of extracted cellulose from graft copolymers obtained by the conventional ceric ion method was approximately 20%, whereas those obtained either by the hydrogen peroxide method or by the adsorbed ceric ion method amounted to 70% to 80%. However, the amount of extracted homopolymer was approximately proportional to that of extracted cellulose. The composition of refined samples ranged 20% to 30% of cellulose content and 70% to 80% of poly(methyl methacrylate) content throughout all samples, and it was recognized that the proportion of poly(methyl methacrylate) tended to increase slightly with higher per cent grafting. When the structure of refined graft copolymer was derived from these values, it was recognized that the extent of the grafted chain was at most 1 mole per 1 mole of cellulose molecule in the conventional ceric ion method and amounted to only 1/10 mole in the hydrogen peroxide and adsorbed ceric ion methods.