Abstract

The biopolymer chitosan was chemically modified by grafting polyacrylamide in a homogeneous aqueous phase by using potassium persulfate as redox initiator system and in the presence of N,N-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinking agent. The percentage of grafting was found to depend on the relative amount of monomer to chitosan, initiator and volume of the aqueous phase as well as the reaction temperature. By using optimized combinations of the reaction variables a grafting efficiency up to 88% and a percentage of grafting of nearly 220% were reached. Evidence of grafting was obtained from comparison of FTIR of the grafted and nongrafted chitosan as well as solubility characteristics of the products.