Graft copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate) on cellulose and their use as supports in metal ion sorption

In order to develop new polymeric materials for environmental technologies based on cellulose, methyl methacrylate was graft copolymerized using benzoyl peroxide as free radical initiator. Reaction conditions were established for optimum grafting of methyl methacrylate and used to co-graft with it co-monomers such as acrylamide, acrylic acid and acrylonitrile. Graft copolymers were characterized by FT-IR, elemental analysis, and swelling behaviour in water and dimethyl formamide. Attempts were made to evaluate the effect of co-monomer concentration on the grafting behaviour of methyl methacrylate and on the structure of the copolymers. Candidate co-polymers were used as supports for the sorption of metal ions. Results were compared with those obtained using native cellulose, cellulose phosphate and oxycellulose.