Graft copolymerization of vinyl monomers on modified cottons, XXII. Ceric‐induced grafting of acrylonitrile on cellulose bearing nitrogen containing groups

The effect of the introduction of aliphatic nitro, aromatic nitro and aromatic amino groups in the molecular structure of cotton cellulose on the susceptibility of the latter towards grafting with acrylonitrile using ceric ion as an initiator was investigated. The presence of nitro groups in the cellulose molecule reduced significantly the rates of both grafting and ceric consumption. The same situation was encountered with cellulose bearing aromatic nitro groups. Converting them to aromatic amino groups reduced grafting and significantly increased ceric consumption. A reaction mechanism was postulated to explain this discrepancy.