The water absorption measurements of a novel superabsorbent anionic hydrogel, H-Na-PCMSA-g-PAN, has been reported first time in water with a poor conductivity, 0.15 M saline (NaCl, CaCl_2, and AlCl₃) solutions, and simulated urine (SU) solutions at various times. The hydrogel has been prepared by the saponification of the graft copolymer, Na-PCMSA-g-PAN (%G = 316.53, %GE = 99.31). Results indicated that as compared to the swelling capacity values evaluated in water with a poor conductivity, the ability of the hydrogel to swell in various saline solutions with the same concentration is significantly reduced at all different durations. The swelling tends to be Na⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Al³⁺ at the same saline concentration in the solution. Studies of the absorbency in various aqueous saline (NaCl) solutions also revealed that the swelling capacity decreased as the ionic strength of the swelling medium rose, which is consistent with the experimental results and Flory’s equation. Furthermore, the experimental results strongly suggested that second-order kinetics governs the swelling process of the hydrogel in various swelling media. The swelling characteristics and equilibrium water contents for the hydrogel in various swelling media have also been researched. The hydrogel samples have been successfully characterized by FTIR to show the change in chemical environment to COO⁻ and CONH₂ groups after swelling in different swelling media. The samples have also been characterized by SEM technique.

Photo-induced graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated guar gum (Na-PCMGG, \(\overline {DS} = 0.291\) ) was carried out in an aqueous medium using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as photoinitiator to synthesize a novel graft copolymer, Na-PCMGG-g-PMMA, which may find its potential application as a metal adsorbent. The influences of synthesis variables such as concentrations of photoinitiator (CAN), nitric acid and monomer (MMA) as well as reaction time, temperature and amount of substrate on the grafting yields were studied and the reaction conditions for optimum photo-grafting were evaluated. At optimum concentration, the maximum values of the grafting yields achieved were G = 271.61% and GE = 63.89%. The experimental results were found to be in very good agreement with the proposed kinetic scheme. The photo-graft copolymerization of MMA onto Na-PCMGG \((\overline {DS} = 0.291)\) was also carried out in the presence and absence of ultraviolet radiation for studying the efficiency of the photoinitiator. The influence of carboxymethyl groups introduced onto the guar gum molecules with regard to its behavior towards ultra-violet radiation induced grafting with MMA was also investigated. Photo-grafting process was confirmed and the products were characterized with the help of the spectroscopic (¹H-NMR and FTIR) and SEM techniques.

A graft copolymer of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated tamarind kernel powder (Na-PCMTKP, \(\overline {DS} = 0.15\)) was synthesized by using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as a redox initiator in an aqueous medium. The optimum reaction conditions for affording maximum percentage of grafting were established by successively varying reaction conditions such as concentrations of nitric acid, CAN, monomer (AN) as well as reaction time, temperature and amount of substrate. The influence of these reaction conditions on the grafting yields was discussed. The kinetic scheme of free radical graft copolymerization was proposed and the experimental results were found to agree very well with the proposed kinetic scheme. The graft copolymer (Na-PCMTKP-g-PAN, percentage of grafting G = 413.76% and percentage of grafting efficiency GE = 96.48%) sample synthesized under the established optimized reaction conditions was hydrolyzed by 0.7 mol·L⁻¹ NaOH solution at 90–95°-C to yield the superabsorbent hydrogel, H-Na-PCMTKP-g-PAN. The swelling behavior of the hydrogel was studied by carrying out its absorbency measurements in low conductivity water, 0.15 mol·L⁻¹ salt (NaCl, CaCl₂ and AlCl₃) solutions and simulated urine (SU) solution at different timings. FTIR, TGA and SEM techniques were used to characterize the products.