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6654692 
Journal Article 
PREPARATION OF STARCH POLY(STYRENE-CO-ACRYLONITRILE) GRAFT POLYMERS BY CERIUM(IV) INITIATION 
Gugliemelli, LA; Swanson, CL; Doane, WM; Russell, CR; , 
1977 
1 
Journal of Polymer Science, Part C: Polymer Letters
ISSN: 0887-6258 
JOHN WILEY & SONS INC 
NEW YORK 
15 
12 
739-743 
WOS:A1977EQ98700006 
Certain monomers, such as acrylonitrile (AN) and methyl acrylate (MA), with double bonds activated by conjugated polar groups, and chloroprene (CP), the double bond of which is activated by a highly electronegative group, homograft readily onto gelatinized starch at 25 degree C through cerium(IV) initiation, while other monomers such as vinyl acetate, isoprene (IP), and styrene (STY) do not homograft. Recently, however, the authors reported that starch grafts can be made that contain polymerized IP by polymerizing mixtures of IP and AN in gelatinized starch at 50 degree C by cerium(IV) initiation. This paper presents results of an experimental study which show that STY, like IP, graft copolymerizes with AN onto gelatinized starch at 50 degree C by cerium(IV) initiation. However, the isolated poly(STY-co-AN) side-chain grafts, unlike the isolated poly(IP-co-AN) grafts, are soluble in DMF, thus making characterization by GPC possible. The work reported has shown the feasibility of making starch graft polymers having copolymer side chains. Undoubtedly, it is possible to graft copolymerize other combinations of monomers (those capable of initiating homograft polymerizations with those having appropriate reactivity ratios) onto starch by cerium(IV) initiation. Preliminary work has shown that starch graft products can be made having terpolymer side chains of polymerized STY, IP, and AN in about equivalent proportions.