Polyacrylonitrile starch copolymer

A recently developed class of compounds called Super Slurpers based on starch- polyacrylonitrile copolymers are able to absorb as much as 500 to 1000 times their weight of water, depending on the purity of the water (19, 20, 21). The formation of these copolymers is catalyzed by Ce ion. These polymers were developed by the U.S, Department of Agriculture and have potential agricultural uses as water storage additives as well as obvious consumer and industrial applications. 

Superabsorbent polymers are now commonly made from the polymerization of acrylic acid blended with sodium hydroxide in the presence of an initiator to form a polyacrylic acid, sodium salt (sometimes referred to as cross-linked sodium polyacrylate). Some of the polymers include polyacrylamide copolymer, ethylene maleic anhydride copolymer, cross-linked carboxy-methyl-cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol copolymers, cross-linked polyethylene oxide, and starch grafted copolymer of polyacrylonitrile to name a few. The latter is one of the oldest SAP forms created. 

Yamaguchi M, Watomoto H, Sakamoto M (1987) Super-absorbent polymers from starch-polyacrylonitrile graft copolymers by acid hydrolysis befine sapmiification. Carbohydr Polym 7 71-82... 

Saponified Polyacrylonitrile Starch Graft Polymer Figure 4A.38 Starch graft copolymers. 

Gugliemelli LA, Swanson CL, Baker FL, Doane WM, Russell CR. 1974. Cationic starch-polyacrylonitrile graft copolymer latexes. J Polym Sd, Polym Chem Edit 12 2683-2692. 

Hydrolyzed cellulose-polyacrylonitrile (PAN) or starch-PAN graft copolymers. 

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