Chitosan-graft-poly(n-butyl acrylate). Synthesis and Characterization

P.S. ANBINDER; C. MACCHI; A. SOMOZA; J. AMALVY

Santa Fe

Simposio; XI Simposio Argentino de Polímeros SAP 2015; 2015

Universidad Nacional del Litoral

Two different deacetylation degree (DD%) chitosan polymers were grafted with different nbutylacrylate (BuA) proportions using radical initiation in a surfactant free emulsion system. Films were produced by casting and acrylic homopolymer was eliminated by Soxhlet extraction. Products graftingpercentage and efficiency were evaluated against acrylate/chitosan ratio and DD%. FT-IR spectroscopy reveals that grafting was made on C-2 free amino groups and in C-3 and/or C-6 hydroxyl groups. TEM images reveal a spherical and well defined core-shell morphology with a poly(n-butylacrylate) rich coreand a chitosan shell. Grafted chitosan showed a noticeable reduction on water swelling, which also depends on the DD% of the pure chitosan. Additional information regarding nanostructural characteristics of the samples was obtained by means of positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy.