Peroxy Disulphate Initiated Graft Copolymerization of o-toluidine onto Wool and Nylon6 Fibres -A Kinetic Approach

Graft copolymerization of o-toluidine (OT) onto wool and nylon6 fibres were carried out by using Peroxy disulphate (PDS) as a lone initiator in aqueous acidic medium under nitrogen atmosphere. Various graft parameters like % grafting, % grafting efficiency and rate of grafting were determined. Grafting occurs with simultaneous homopolymer formation. Rate of homopolymerization was also followed. The content of poly(o-toluidine) (POT) in the backbone fibres were found to vary while changing the [OT], [PDS], (amount of fibre). Chemical grafting was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy, cyclicvoltammetry (CV) and conductivity measurements. Probable mechanism has been proposed to explain the experimental results obtained.