Graft polymerization of vinyl acetate onto starch. Saponification to starch-g-poly(vinyl alcohol)
1979
Fanta, G.F. | Burr, R.C. | Doane, W.M. | Russell, C.F.
In the reported experiments, graft polymerizations of vinyl acetate onto granular corn starch were initiated by cobalt-60 irradiation of starch-monomer-water mixtures, and ungrafted poly(vinyl acetate) was separated from the graft copolymer by benzene extraction. Lower irradiation doses produced lower conversions of monomer to polymer and gave graft copolymers with lower % add-on. Addition of minor amounts of acrylamide, methyl acrylate, and methacrylic acid as comonomers produced only small increases in % add-on and grafting efficiency. However, grafting efficiency was increased to 70% when a monomer mixture containing about 10% methyl methacrylate was used. Selected graft copolymers were treated with methanolic sodium hydroxide to convert starch-g-poly(vinyl acetate) to starch-g-poly(vinyl alcohol). The molecular weight of the poly(vinyl alcohol) moiety was about 30,000. The solubility of starch-g-poly(vinyl alcohol) in hot water was less than 50%; however, solubility could be increased by substituting either acid-modified or hypochlorite-oxidized starch for unmodified starch in the graft polymerization reaction. Vinyl acetate was also graft polymerized onto acid-modified starch which had been dispersed and partially solubilized by heating in water. A film cast from a starch-g-poly(vinyl alcohol) copolymer in which homopolymer was not removed exhibited a higher ultimate tensile strength than a comparable physical mixture of starch and poly(vinyl alcohol.
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