Use of microwave irradiation in the grafting modification of the polysaccharides - A review

Polysaccharides are a natural and renewable feed stock for synthesizing high performance macromolecular materials. A popular, versatile and convenient route to develop polysaccharide based materials is the grafting of synthetic polymers onto natural polysaccharides. In spite of the attractive chemical and physical properties of polysaccharide based copolymeric materials, undesired homopolymer formation in the concurrent competing reaction lowers the copolymer yield, posing problems in the commercialization of the grafting procedures. Moreover, the requirement for an inert atmosphere is an added disadvantage for many conventional grafting procedures. The use of microwave irradiation has been exploited in the past two decades to alleviate these limitations in the synthesis of a range of graft modified polysaccharide materials. Indeed, increasing interest in clean and green environment friendly chemistry has motivated the use of microwaves in the polysaccharide grafting modification for various applications. Microwave irradiation significantly reduces the use of toxic solvents, as well as the reaction time for almost all the grafting reactions of interest here, ensuring high yields, product selectivity and clean product formations. Moreover, in many instances, microwave synthesized polysaccharide copolymers exhibit better properties for commercial exploitation than their conventionally synthesized counterparts. This review highlights recent applications of microwave heating in the grafting modifications of polysaccharides and discusses the underlying mechanisms and issues.