Grafting of a styrene-acrylonitrile binary monomer mixture onto cellulose extracted from pine needles

In an attempt to develop new reactive membrane materials, we graft-copolymerized Styrene (Sty) and acrylonitrile (AN) onto cellulose extracted from pine needles by a chemical initiation method. The optimum grafting reaction conditions for Sty onto cellulose were earlier evaluated as [Sty] = 656.25 mmol/L and [potassium persulfate-ferrous ammonium sulfate] = 146.3:12.75 mmol/L in 20 mL of H2O with a reaction time of 3 h and a reaction temperature of 60degreesC for 1 g of cellulose. Under these conditions, Sty was graft-copolymerized with AN at five different concentrations of the latter. Grafting parameters and different rates of concentration were evaluated. The effects of additives such as ZnCl2, LiNO3, and Cu(NO)(3) were studied at the best comonomer concentration of Sty-AN. In the presence of ZnCl2, Sty-AN graft-copolymerized in an alternate way, thus, making it evident that ZnCl2 coordinated to form a complexomer, or complex of monomers [Sty(-)AN(+)...ZnCl2], of two monomers. Evidence of the structural characteristics of grafted chains were provided by characterization with elemental analysis, thermal analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Inc.