Studies on the Degradation Behavior of Chitosan-g-Poly

Graft copolymers of Chitosan and poly(acrylic acid) were synthesized with a redox initiator, cerium ammonium nitrate. After 2 h of reaction at 70 oC, a gel product was obtained. The swelling ratio of the copolymer in water depends on the pH value and has a maximum in the buffer solution at pH 7. This is because the morphological structure of the copolymers in the water changes with the pH values. In addition, the swelling ratio of the copolymer increases with the feeding amount of acrylic acid monomer. The degradation behavior of the copolymers was observed both in a lysozyme solution and an active slurry solution. The degradation rate was higher in the lysozyme solution and depended on the composition of the copolymers