Grafting of poly-?-alanine from carbon black

Abstract

It was found that the hydrogen transfer polymerization of acrylamide was initiated by lithium phenolate(OLi) group on the carbon black, which was introduced by the reaction of oxygen containing group on the carbon black with n-butyllithium, and that poly-β-alanine(Nylon 3) was effectively grafted onto carbon black surface: the grafting ratio at 80°C increased to 115% with an increase in conversion. The grafted polymer was considered to be propagated from OLi group on the surface. Furthermore, the ratio of hydrogen transfer polymerization to vinyl polymerization (T-ratio) increased with an increase of polymerization temperature.