Synthesis of cationic polyacrylamide by aqueous two‐phase polymerization in poly(ethylene glycol) chloride solution

Abstract

AbstractAqueous two‐phase copolymerization of acrylamide(AM) and acryloyloxyethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (DAC) was performed in poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) solution and in PEG chloride(Cl‐PEG) solution, respectively. Series of cationic polyacrylamide(CPAM) aqueous dispersion were prepared using potassium persulfate (KPS) as initiator. The effect of total amount of monomers, the dosage of initiator, the content of dispersant, the mass ratio of AM to DAC, and the temperature on the conversion, molecular weight, cationic degree, and stability of aqueous dispersion were studied in detail. It is found that the increase of initiator and reaction temperature resulted in the increase of the final conversion, whereas the increase of DAC and PEG concentration resulted in the decrease of the final conversion. The optimum reaction conditions of synthesis were as follows: (1) PEG‐H2O system: PEG 7.5 g, AM 8 g, DAC 2 g, KPS 0.05 g, H2O 100 mL, 70°C. In this process conditions, the molecular weight of CPAM was 3.21 × 106, the cationic degree of CPAM was 24.4%, the storage stability of the aqueous dispersion was over 3 months. (2) Cl‐PEG‐H2O system: Cl‐PEG 7.5 g, AM 8 g, DAC 2 g, KPS 0.05 g, H2O 100 mL, 65°C. In this process conditions, the molecular weight was 3.68 × 106, the cationic degree was 23.3%, and the storage stability of the aqueous dispersion was over 6 months. In general, the stability of CPAM aqueous dispersion in Cl‐PEG system is much better than in PEG system. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013