Development of graft copolymer of carboxymethylcellulose and N-vinylcaprolactam towards strong antioxidant and antibacterial polymeric materials

The present paper reports graft copolymerization of N-vinylcaprolactam (NVCL) onto carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) using tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) initiator in N2 atmosphere. The grafting was found to be highest when concentrations of CMC, NVCL and TBHP were 6.25 × 10−2 g dm−3, 10 × 10−3 mol dm−3 and 20 × 10−5 mol dm−3 respectively. The graft copolymer (CMC-g-PNVCL-1) was characterized by FTIR, 1HNMR, SEM, AFM, XRD and TGA analysis. The antioxidant activity of the graft copolymer was found to be higher (3.81%) than CMC and slightly less (5.47%) than the standard one (butylated hydroxytoluene, BHT). The hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of graft copolymer was found to be slightly less (13.69%) than CMC and more (44.20%) than the BHT. The hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity of graft copolymer was observed to be less (20.42%) than CMC and 53.34% less than BHT. The superoxide scavenging activity of graft copolymer was greater than the both. Compared to CMC the graft copolymer has shown greater antibacterial activity against S. aureus, Proteus vulgaris and S. typhi bacteria and less against Klebsiellapneumonia and Salmonella typhimurium.