Characterization of graft copolymer based on polyacrylamide and dextran

Graft copolymers of dextran and polyacrylamide have been synthesized by grafting polyacrylamide chains onto dextran backbone using a ceric-ion-induced solution polymerization technique. By varying the amount of CAN (ceric ammonium nitrate) initiator, four different grades of graft copolymers (Dx-g-PAM) are synthesized. These graft copolymers are characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, intrinsic viscosity measurement, molecular weight determination, rheological technique, scanning electron microscopy, thermal analysis (DTG) and X-ray diffractometry. They exhibit efficient flocculation characteristics in various suspensions and viscosifying characteristics as well.