Cellulosic Graft Copolymer: Poly(methyl methacrylate) with Cellulose Side Chains

Abstract

A cellulose macromonomer, N-(15-methacryloyloxypentadecanoyl)-tri-O-acetyl-β-cellulosylamine (CTA-C15-MA (2); M₂) with number averaged degree of polymerization (DP_n) = 13), was copolymerized with methyl methacrylate (MMA; M₁) to give cellulosic copolymer with CTA side chains, PMMA-g-(CTA-C15) (3-A). An absolute molecular weight determined by multiangle laser light scattering (MALS; M_w,LS), degree of polymerization of MMA (X) and CTA-C15-MA (Y) of PMMA-g-(CTA-C15) (3-A) were determined to be M_w,LS = 6.30 × 10⁴, X = 4.14 × 10², and Y = 3.86. Cellulose graft copolymer with cellulose side chains, PMMA-g-(cellulose-C15) (3-H) was successfully obtained after deacetylation of the copolymer 3-A. Thermal analysis of copolymers 3-A and 3-H by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements revealed that a small amount of CTA and cellulose side chains affected thermal properties of the PMMA main chain.