Ceric-induced grafting of acrylate monomers onto sodium alginate

Abstract The graft copolymerization of methyl acrylate (MA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto sodium alginate (SA) with ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as a redox initiator in an aqueous medium has been studied. The optimized reaction conditions affording the maximum percentage of grafting of MA and MMA onto SA are determined by varying the concentrations of nitric acid, ceric ammonium nitrate, SA, MA and MMA, and also temperature and time. A comparison of the reactivity of the acrylate monomers with that of acrylonitrile has been made.