In the present study, chemical modification of chitosan was carried out by graft copolymerization of ethylene dimethacrylate monomer onto chitosan-g-Maleic anhydride. The polymerization reaction was initiated by Ceric Ammonium Nitrate, Nitric acid redox system. Graft copolymer was prepared by varying parameters such as monomer concentration, initiator concentration and temperature. The chemical structure and physical properties of prepared Chitosan-g-MA-g-ethylene dimethacrylate copolymer were carried out by various analytical techniques such as Fourier transform resonance spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). Grafting was confirmed by FTIR. X-ray diffraction showed changes in crystallinity pattern. Slightly different mechanisms in side chain substitution for these polymers were envisaged. The thermal properties of prepared graft copolymer were obtained by TGA thermal studies. The total effect of monomer concentration, initiator concentration and temperature on grafting percentage were investigated and discussed.
