In this work, single electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) was used to functionalize chitosan in a well-controlled manner. The chitosan-based macroinitiator was first synthesized and then initiated the SET-LRP of methacryloyloxyethyl trimethylammonium chloride (DMC) in ionic liquid system, using Cu⁰/N,N,N′,N′,N′′-pentamethyldiethylenetriamine as a catalyst. The grafting of PDMC brushes on chitosan was confirmed and analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the chitosan copolymer showed self-assembled behavior in acetone. Surface properties of the copolymer have been investigated by environment scanning electron microscopy analysis. The linear relationship between the ln([M]₀/[M]_t) and time, the linear increase of number-average molecular mass with conversion as well as the low polydispersity index of the polymer confirmed the “living/controlled” features of the polymerization of DMC through SET-LRP. Finally, the chitosan copolymer demonstrates its potential antibacterial application, showing excellent inhibitive capability against Escherichia coli. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42754.

Cellulose was first grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) in an ionic liquid via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and then the introduced epoxy groups were reacted with ethanediamine (EDA) to obtain an amino adsorbent. The grafting copolymer and the obtained adsorbent were characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR, TEM and SEM. The results showed that the grafted copolymers had grafted polymer chains with well-controlled molecular weight and polydispersity, the polymerization was a controlled system. The cellulose adsorbent had numerous micropores on the surface and showed high performance for Cr(VI) adsorption. The adsorption behavior was pH dependent and the sorption equilibrium was achieved within 2 h on the adsorbent.