Grafting of n-butyl acrylate on to chitosan by ceric ion initiation and its antimicrobial activity

In this present work, graft copolymer of chitosan onto n-Butyl acrylate was prepared. The polymerization reaction was initiated by Ceric Ammonium Nitrate (CAN). Graft copolymer was prepared in various ratios by varying concentrations of monomer, initiator and temperature. The grafted copolymer is then subjected to various analytical techniques such as FTIR, XRD, thermal analysis and Antimicrobial activity. The effect of initiator concentration and monomer concentration on grafting percentage were studied. The result of FTIR studies clearly indicates the effective grafting of n-butyl acrylate onto a biopolymer chitosan. From the results of the XRD pattern, the change in crystallinity of the graft co-polymeric samples, was elucidated. The increase of the thermal stability of the polymer upon grafting was concluded from the TGA studies. The grafted chitosan showed good antibacterial activity when compared to that of pure chitosan.