GRAFT COPOLYMERIZATION ONTO CHITOSAN-I. GRAFTING OF ETHYLMETHACRYLATE USING CERIC AMMONIUM NITRATE AS AN INITIATOR

 

Mohammad M. Fares *

 

Department of Applied chemistry, Jordan University of Science & Technology, P.O. box: 3030, 22110, Irbid, Jordan

 

Bashar Al-Ta’ani

 

Faculty of Pharmacy, Jordan University of Science & Technology, P.O. box:  3030, 22110,

Irbid, Jordan

 

Abstract

Grafting of ethylmethacrylate (EMA) onto chitosan in aqueous medium initiated by ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) under N₂ atmosphere has been studied. The effect of monomer concentration, initiator concentration, polymerization temperature, polymerization time and material to liquor ratio have been studied in terms of %GE and %Add-on.  The optimum conditions obtained for the grafting of EMA on 1.0 g chitosan were: [CAN] = 0.0018 mol/L, [EMA]= 0.025 mol/L, Temperature= 30 °C, Time=180 min, and material to liquor ratio = 1:7.  The graft copolymer was characterized by FTIR, x-ray diffraction (XRD) for the crystallinity of the copolymer and TGA for thermal stability of the copolymer.