Effect of CaCO3/HCl pretreatment on the surface modification of chitin gel beads via graft copolymerization of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate and 4-vinylpyridine

Although chitin, poly(N-acetylglucosamine), possesses considerable potential as a biomaterial, it has not been as thoroughly studied as its derivative chitosan. In this study, the potential of chitin gel beads has been evaluated for surface modification via vinyl polymer grafting. Grafting behavior of two well-established vinyl monomers, namely 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) and 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) were investigated using cerium (IV) ammonium nitrate as the redox initiator with the aim of obtaining chemically functionalized more hydrophilic chitin surfaces. The intractable nature of chitin, which is one of its primary drawbacks as a grafting substrate was overcome by applying a CaCO3 treatment during bead preparation. The maximum grafting percentage of poly(HEMA) onto chitin bead without CaCO3 treatment was found to be 65%, while the value for CaCO3 treated chitin beads was 515%. The maximum grafting yield of poly(4-VP) on to CaCO3 treated chitin powder was 380% at optimum conditions. The grafting system was extensively characterized before and after grafting by FT-IR, SEM, C-13 NMR and XRD analyses. Significant improvement on the swelling capacities of chitin based gel beads in aqueous acidic, basic and neutral media was obtained. An account of the pros and cons of the system has been presented.