Preparation of A Photochromic Azo-dye Grafted Carboxymethyl Chitin Polymer

A carboxymethyl chitin derivative containing photochromic azo-dye moiety had been synthesized by graft copolymerization in water using ammonium persulfate as initiator and the structure had been characterized by IR.The effect of reaction temperature,reaction time,amount of solvent,amount of initiator and amount of monomer on graft copolymerization were studied.The optimum conditions with the maximum grafting efficiency were shown as follows: carboxymethyl chitin 0.3 g,water 30.0 mL,initiator 30.0 mg,azo-dye monomer 0.90 g,reaction temperature 70℃,reaction time 4.0 h.Under above optimum conditions,the grafting rate was 92.0%,the grafting efficiency was 30.7%.