The Preparation and Properties of Acrylic and Methacrylic Acid Grafted Cellulose Prepared by Ceric Ion Initiation. Part I. Preparation of the Grafted Cellulose

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Abstract
The ceric ion method has been used to graft acrylic acid directly onto cellulose with a minimum amount of homopolymer. The method utilizes the pretreatment of the cellulose with ceric ammonium nitrate followed by washing out any excess of the catalyst. Oxygen can be present with the pretreatment step, but must be excluded during the grafting reaction itself. The process, which is entirely aqueous in nature, would appear to be quite practical on a large scale. Wet strengthened papers which are essential for the use of the grafted products as ion-exchange media can also be grafted but with adequate but lower yields than with the untreated paper. Apart from ion exchange, the products are of considerable potential value as water sorbing agents. Methacrylic acid gave lower grafting yields than acrylic acid, but these were much improved at higher temperatures.