Natural rubber-graft-methyl methacrylic acid

The preparation of natural rubber-gra/t-methyl methacrylic acid has been reported by Lenka and coworkers. The vanadium ion was used as an initiator, which initiated the creation of free radicals on the backbone of natural rubber and this increased the interaction between the natural rubber and the methyl methacrylate surfaces. The coordination complexes derived from the acetylacetonate of Mn(III) ions could also be used as an initiator to form the natural rubber-gra/t-methyl methacrylic acid. Under different conditions, silver ions could be used as a catalyst to produce natural rubber-gra/t-methyl methacrylic acid with different concentrations of methyl methacrylic acid monomers, and potassium peroxydisulfate as an initiator. Consequently, these methods were successful in the preparation of compatible blended natural rubber and methyl methacrylic acid by graft copolymerization. This compatibility was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopy techniques. The interaction between natural rubber and methyl methacrylic acid was significantly increased and was useful for further blending with other polyacrylate molecules or different polymer types. 

Figure 13.2 Possible modifications to the natural rubber backbone by (a) catalysis to hydrogenated natural rubber, (b) interacting with maleic anhydride, and grafting with (c) polyacrylate, (d) methyl methacrylic acid, and (e) poly(methyl methacrylate).

Figure 4 Homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of methyl methacrylate-grafted natural rubber (MMA-g-NR) and styrene-grafted natural rubber (ST-g-NR).p-Toluenesulfonic acid was added to coordinate the nonrubber components of NR.

A graft copolymer of methyl methacrylate and natural rubber can be used as a primer coat for plasticized PVC. The release coat is also applied to a lightweight coating at 1—5 g/m. Acrylic acid esters... 

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