Role of solvent alcohol in the photosensitized copolymerization of styrene to cellulose

Styrene was copolymerized to cellulose in the presence of uv radiation using a range of alcohols from methanol to octanol as solvents. The results showed that methanol is the best solvent and that with increasing chain length of the alcohols the grafting is almost completely inhibited. However the addition of isobutanol or n-octanol in a 1 : 1 ratio to methanol cause a significant enhancement of the grafting. The results were compared with those obtained with γ radiation grafting. The differences in reaction mechanisms for uv and γ grafting are discussed. The uv conditions required to obtain optimum yields are outlined