Grafting of ethyl acrylate onto starch

Abstract Graft copolymerization of ethyl acrylate onto starch in aqueous medium was studied using various concentrations of ceric ions as initiator. It was found that termination of copolymerization occurred mainly by the interaction of ceric ions with the growing graft polymer chain. The value of the chain transfer constant was determined. Further the graft copolymerization of ethyl acrylate onto starch in the presence of small quantities of acrylonitrile was examined. An increase in the amount of acrylonitrile in the monomer mixture did not produce a corresponding increase in the amount of the monomer in the graft copolymer.