Effect of monomer structure on radiation grafting of charge transfer complexes to synthetic and naturally occurring polymers

Effect of monomer structure in photografting charge transfer (CT) complexes to typical substrates like wool, cellulose and polypropylene is reported. The importance of photoinitiators in these processes is examined. Maleic anhydride (MA) with triethylene glycol divinyl ether (DVE-3) is used as reference CT complex in this work. The additional monomers studied include the esters of MA as acceptors and vinyl acetate as donor. The role of solvent in these reactions is discussed, particularly the effect of aromatics in photografting to naturally occurring trunk polymers like wool and cellulose. The effect of the double bond molar ratio of the DA components in grafting is examined. The ultraviolet (UV) conditions for gel formation during photografting, hence the importance of homopolymer yields in these processes is reported. A plausible mechanism to explain the results from this photografting work is proposed. The significance of these photografting studies in the related field of curing, especially in UV and ionising radiation systems, is discussed