Graft copolymerization of cellulose and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate in an ionic liquid

Dissolution and homogeneous graft copolymerization of cellulose were performed in an ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate. The synthesized AmimCl and cellulose graft copolymers were characterized by FTIR, ¹H-NMR and XRD spectroscopy. The results show that AmimCl dissolved cellulose directly by destroying intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds in cellulose and the crystalline form of cellulose was transformed from cellulose I to cellulose Ⅱ after regeneration from AmimCl. The best synthetic condition of the cellulose-graft-P (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) was that cellulose 0.5 g, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate 3.00 g and initiator ammonium persulfate 0.05 g reacted for 180 min at 60℃; the rate of grafting reached 77.3%.