Abstract
A new polysaccharide derivative having grafted polystyrene was synthesized by graft copolymerization of styrene onto curdlan initiated with ammonium persulfate (APS) in H20 at 60°C. Effective concentration of APS was present in a narrow range around 0.25mmol against 0.50g (0.27mmol) of curdlan and styrene concentration was also one of important factors controlling the graft copolymerization. The maximum grafting percentage was 209%. Characterization of the resulting curdlan-graft-polystyrene was performed by means of IR, CP/MAS solid-state NMR, DSC, and SEM. The polystyrene grafts obtained after acid hydrolysis of curdlan-graft-polystyrenes had large molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions.
