Photoinduced graft copolymerization of polymer surfactants based on hydroxyethyl cellulose

A novel polymer surfactant, hydroxyethyl cellulose-based copolymer, was prepared via ultraviolet (UV) irradiation by copolymerizing hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) with hexadecyl acrylate (HDA) and comonomer styrene (St) in aqueous solution. The purified graft copolymer was characterized by FT-IR and 1H NMR, which showed that HDA and St were grafted on HEC chains under UV irradiation. Effects of UV irradiation time, pH value of the reaction solution and monomer volume percent in the feed on the chemical structure and the surface tension of graft copolymer were investigated. The result showed that the grafting of HDA on the HEC was limited by the grafting of St under UV irradiation, and the graft copolymer performed excellent surface activity when the grafting was under an appropriate conditions (i.e. both the volume percent of HDA and St in the feed were 4% (v/v), the pH value of the reaction solution was 7 and the UV irradiation time was 1 h).