Microwave-accelerated Synthesis and Characterization of Potato Starch-g-poly(acrylamide)

Using a very low concentration of potassium persulfate as initiator, acrylamide could be efficiently grafted onto potato starch under microwave irradiation and for the grafting O2 removal from the reaction vessel was not required. Under optimal conditions, grafting and efficiency observed were 160% and 89%, respectively. Grafted starch was characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was observed that the microwave irradiation could significantly accelerate the synthesis of starch‐graft‐poly(acrylamide), because under identical conditions no grafting was observed in a conventional procedure. Viscosity, shear stability and water/saline solution retention of the microwave‐synthesized grafted starch were studied and compared with that of the parent starch.