Microwave-Assisted Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) Grafted Gellan Gum

Poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethylmethacrylate) was grafted on gellan gum (GG) in aqueous medium under microwave irradiation using ammonium persulfate and N,N,N′N′-tetramethylethylenediamine as the initiation system. Grafted copolymers were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, and SEM techniques. The influence of microwave power, exposure time, and composition of the reaction mixture on extent of grafting was studied. Conditions for obtaining the highest degree of grafting were optimized. The rate of grafting was determined from weight measurements. The overall activation energy for grafting is found to be 31.2 kJ/mol, indicating the occurrence of the grafting process with absorption of low thermal energy.