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Title: MUTUAL RADIATION GRAFTING OF STYRENE ONTO CELLULOSE ACETATE

Journal Article · · Technol. Rept. Osaka Univ.
OSTI ID:4628311

Cellulose acetate film was sealed in a glass tube that contained styrene monomer and solvent and then exposed to an 800-C Co/sup 60/ gamma -radiation source. After irradiation, the film was removed and washed with benzene, a solvent for the styrene homopolymer. The film was then extracted with acetone to remove the ungrafted cellulose acetate. The chemical composition of the graft copolymer could be roughly estimated from the differences between the amounts of material extracted and the residual copolymer. Molecular weights of polystyrene formed in different regions in the system were quite different, increasing in the following order of polymerization sites: surrounding monomer solution phase Imonomer solution inside the cellulose acetate film) grafting layer. The graft copolymer isolated was much richer in the styrene component, and was soluble in tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, and dimethylformamide, but insoluble in both benzene and acetone. Polystyrene grafted on the acetyl groups and that grafted on the rest of glucose units of the stock polymer could be isolated by alkaline saponification and subsequent acetolysis. The respective amounts grafted were similar. It is suggested that grafting takes place predominantly on a specific part of the backbone polymer chain. The graft copolymer appeared to consist of the relatively small backbone chain of cellulose acetate and very few, but strikingly long, branches of polystyrene. Thus, in one experiment the number average molecular weight of cellulose acetate decreased from 5.2 x 10/sup 4/ initially to 4.6 x 10/sup 4/ after irradiation. (BBB)

Research Organization:
Osaka Univ.
NSA Number:
NSA-17-039144
OSTI ID:
4628311
Journal Information:
Technol. Rept. Osaka Univ., Vol. Vol: 12; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English