Solvothermal process for grafting maleic anhydride onto poly(ethylene 1-octene)

Solvothermal process was developed to graft maleic anhydride (MAH) onto poly(ethylene 1-octene) (POE). Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and ¹H NMR spectra confirmed that maleic anhydride was successfully grafted onto the POE. The influences of MAH content, initiator concentration, POE concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time and solvents on the graft copolymerization were investigated through both of the grafting degree (GD) and gel content (GC). The results demonstrated that high grafting degree (up to 10.85%) could be obtained while the gel content was still low. Further studies revealed that POE-g-MAH could also be achieved in poor solvents of POE through this method.