Graft Copolymerization of Polyacrylamide onto Tamarind Mucilage

In the present communication, grafting of acrylamide onto a water‐soluble food grade polysaccharide, Tamarind mucilage, initiated by ceric ion in aqueous medium has been studied under N₂ atmosphere. A ceric ion initiated solution polymerization technique was found to be satisfactory for the formation of copolymer. The effect of monomer concentration, initiator concentration, reaction time, and temperature in terms of grafting efficiency (%GE) and percent of grafting (PG) have been investigated. The graft copolymers were characterized by FTIR, scanning electron microscope (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA), and biodegradation studies.

Keywords:

• polysaccharide
• graft copolymers
• FTIR
• SEM
• DSC, and TGA

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi for financial support of this study (Project No. F.12‐133/2001 (SR‐1)].