Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of n-butyl acrylate from starch granules

Poly(n-butyl acrylate) grafted starch (PBA-g-Starch) were successfully by the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of n-butyl acrylate (BA) using starch bromo-acetic ester as macroinitiator in presence of 1,10-phenanthroline and Cu(I)Br as catalyst in toluene system for the first time. The graft parameters calculated from the elemental analyses (EA) results, conversion of monomer (C%) and percentage of grafting (PG%) of 9.9 and 21.3% were achieved, respectively, after a polymerizing time of 5 h. The graft polymerizations exhibited the characteristics of a controlled/'living' polymerization. A glass transition temperature (Tg) of the PBA-g-Starch after a polymerizing time of 5 h was found at −48.6 °C by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The product was also characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques.