A Novel Way of Catalyst-Free-Esterification of Ethyl Cellulose with Phthalic Anhydride

Abstract

Ethyl cellulose (EC) was grafted with phthalic anhydride (PA) by esterification reaction without any catalyst in ethanol-methylbenzene mixture. The chemical structure and thermal stability of grafted copolymer (EC-g-PA) were analyzed by FT-IR and TGA, respectively, and compared with those of EC. The FT-IR results showed that EC has been grafted successfully with PA and the TGA results also show different thermal behavior between EC and EC-g-PA.