ACRYLONITRILE GRAFT POLYMERS

1,244,746. Quaternized polyamides grafted with acrylonitrile. FARBENFABRIKEN BAYER A.G. 25 Nov., 1968 [28 Nov., 1967], No. 55810/68. Heading C3G. A graft polymer is produced by grafting at least 50% by weight of acrylonitrile and 0 to 10% of a comonomer on to 40 to 5% of a linear polyamide having the recurrent structural unit in which R is a C 2 to C 10 -alkylene radical or a radical of formula in which z is an integer of 2 to 6, R 2 is a C 1 to C 6 -alkyl radical or a cycloalkyl radical, R 3 is a methyl or ethyl group and A- is a halide, sulphate or sulphonate anion having a single negative charge, R 1 is a C 2 to C 6 -alkylene. radical or a radical of formula or in which R 3 and A- are as defined above, at least one quaternized nitrogen atom being present for every two amide groups and the polyamide having a molecular weight of 1000 to 50,000. The graft polymer, which has a K value of 70 to 110, is produced in aqueous solution, which may be nitric acid, using a free radical catalyst. In the examples, polyamides derived from adipic acid and N-methyl-N-di- (γ - aminopropyl) - amine or N,N1 - dimethyl- N,N1 - di - (γ - aminopropyl) - ethylene diamine are quaternized with dimethyl sulphate before being grafted with acrylonitrile and methyl acrylate. The graft polymers are dyed.