Effect of Degree of Substitution on Grafting of Acrylonitrile onto Sodium Salt of Partially Carboxymethylated Amylose

Abstract

Abstract In order to study the effect of degree of substitution, the grafting of acrylonitrile (AN) onto sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated amylose (Na-PCMA) samples of varying degrees of substitution has been carried out using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator. The percentage of grafting (% G), percentage grafting efficiency (% GE) and % add-on are found to decrease with increase in degree of substitution. The molecular weights of the grafted homopolymer (PAN) have been determined from viscosity measurements and are found to decrease with increase in degree of substitution of Na-PCMA sample. The results on the thermal studies of all the Na-PCMA samples and their graft copolymers also showed that the thermal stability decreases with increasing degree of substitution of Na-PCMA.