CA1091659A - Starch acrylamides and the method for preparing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A polymerized starch acrylamide composition having recurring and interpolymerized starch acrylamide units and a method for preparing same by polymerizing an ethyl-enically unsaturated starch derivative in the presence of a polymerization initiator. The starch acrylamide has a starch chain with appendant acrylamide groups contiguously attached to the chain. The polymerized compositions provide water-resistant, clear, flexible coatings or shaped articles.

Description

l()gl6S9 BACl~GT~OUND OF T~IE l:NVENT:rON
__ Modi~ied and unmodiEied starch products are extensively used ~or a variety of non~~ood and industrial applications. They have, traditionally, been used to size or finish textiles and papers, as adhesives (e.g., corrugated and laminated paper boards, remoistening gums, wallpapers, etc.), flocculants, binders (e.g., foundry core binders), fabric printing aides, thickeners and many other divergent non-food and industrial applications.
In the coating and shaped article manufacture, the trade presently relies upon synthetic polymeric materials which are primarily produced from petrochemical raw materials. Petrochem-icals are a depletable natural resource. Within recent years, world-wide demand for petroleum-based products has adversely af-fected the cost and availability of synthetic polymers. Starches are readily available and replenishable with each crop year.
Potential starch product usage would substantially increase if it were possible to alter or correct certain inherent defects which have heretofore rendered starch products unsuitable for coating and/or shaped article applications.
Starches are inherently unstable against physical, chemical, bacterial and enzymatic degradation. Starches vary in amylopectin and amylose content. Waxy starches consist essentially of amyla-pectin with only trace amounts of amylose. Corn starch and other conventional starches such as tapioca, potato, wheat typically contain 16-24% amylose (dry solids weight basis) with the balance thereof being amylopectin. Amylose fractions are comprised almost exclusively of amylose while certain-high amylose hybrid corn starches have an amylose content of about 40-70%.
The starch amylose content affects the film-forming, water-dispersibility and water-resistant properties of a starch. Low-amylose starches are more easily convertible into aqueous pastes than high-amylose starches. Low-amylose starches are unacceptable ~g~6s9 as stable or perrnanent coatings because o~ th~ir hiyh wa~er-sensi-tivity (e.g., readily swell and disperse into water). High-amylose starches are difficult to disperse and maintain as a uniform dispersion in aqueous systems (e.g., generally require 230F+ temperatures under superatmospheric pressure). Upon cooling (e.g., 200F. or less), the high-amylose starches readily retro-grade into non-adhesive and water-insoluble starch particles.
Unlike low-amylose starches, articles made or coated with high-amylose starches possess relatively good water-insensitivity and structural properties.
Considerable research was expended towards the development of new techniques which would enable the art to use high-amylose, starch-based products as a synthetic polymer replacement. Repre-sentative thereof are U.S. Patent Nos. 2,608,723 by Wolff et al.;

2,902,336 by Hiemstra et al.; 2,729,565 by O'Brian et al.; 2,973, 243 by Kudera and 3,030,667 by Kunz; these patents basically disclose methods for preparing high-amylose shaped objects or coatings via organic solvent casting techniques. Shaped extru-dates by combining water, an organic plasticizer and high amylose starches by extrusion at elevated temperatures are reported in Canadian Patent No. 829,207. Notwithstanding these research efforts, high-amylose starches are still generally regarded as commercially unfit for coating and shaped object applications.
Such processes ~enerally involve physical manipulation of the high-amylose starch without altering or modifying the-inherent compo-sitional defects of the starch molecule. Moreover, the manipula-tive steps as well as their incompatibility with conventional coating and shaped article technology severely limit their adapt-ation to commercial manufacturing processes.
At one time allyl starches appeared potentially useful as starch-based coatings (e.g., see J.P. Radley, Starch and Its Derivatives, 4th Ed., 1968). Unfortunately, the allyl starch ~1~)916S9 coating systems have been plac~u~d with di~ficulties such as non-homogenity, brittleness, inflexibility, poox water-rcsistance and limited solubility in organo solvent systems (e.g., see~ Polymer-ization Studies with Allyl Starch, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 7, pages 1403-1410, 1963 by Wilham et al.) Hydro-phobic, photopolymerizable N-methylol-polyol polymers have also been disclosed by Rosenkranz et al. in U.S. Patent No. 3,936,428.
OBJECTS
~n object of this invention is to provide novel starch pro-ducts which contain reactive, pendant ethylenic unsaturation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method forpreparing novel starch products which contain pendant ethylenic unsaturation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a starch product which is adapted for use as a polymerizable or cross-lir.~able starch reactant.
A still further object of the invention is to provide and prepare starch polymerizates.
An additional object is to provide a novel starch product having utility as a synthetic polymer replacement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to starch acrylamides, the prepara-tion thereof, the polymerization of starch acrylamides and starch acrylamide polymerizates.
According to the present invention there is-provided starch acrylamides generally characterized by their pendant and terminal:

O
- N - C - C = CH

radicals which may, if desired, be further converted to useful products by conventional ethylenically unsaturated derivatization processes, polymerized with itself or ~ith other ethylenically unsaturated monomers and polymers, cross-linked by itself or with ~o9~sg other convention~l cross-linking a~ents, ctc. The acrylamide groups of the present skarches are cap~ble of undergoing more homogeneous and con~roll~ble polymerization ~han conventional allyl starches. The high degree of reactivity of the acrylamide moiety makes ~hese novel starch products particularly suitable for use in coating applications. The hydrophobicity or hydrophil-icity of the sta~ch acrylamides may be suitably regulated by the composition of the starch chain or acrylamide substituents. Water-dispersible acrylamide starches may be obtained by derivativing a hydrophilic starch chain with acrylamide groups which retain the over-all hydrophilic character thereof. Conversely, hydrophobic -'arch acrylamides also may be prepared by derivatizing a starch-with a hydrophobic acrylamide or by reacting an acrylamide with a hydrophobic derivatized starch (e.g., cyanoethyl starch). De-pending upon the desired end use, the degree of substitution (D.S.) of the appendant acrylamide groups in the starch may vary consid-erably, such as an average of one appendant group for each 2000 starch glucose units (i.e., 0.0005 D.S.) to a starch having an acrylamide D.S. of 2 or higher (i.e., an average of two or more acrylamide substituents per starch glucose unit).
Illustrative polymerizable starch acrylamides may be repre-sented by the structural Formula I;

R O R
(I) Starch ~ - Q - N - C - C = C ~

wherein starch represents a starch chain, Rl is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a mono-organo group joined directly to the nitrogen atom by a monovalent bond, R re-presents a member selected ~rom the group consisting of hydrogen and mono-organo group linked to alpha carbon atom of the ethylen-ically unsaturated group of the acrylamide moiety by a monovalent linkage, Q represents an organo group which divalently joins the D

~091659 group with the acrylamide ~roup; D is a member sclec~ed from the group consisting of sulfur and oxygen linking said Q yroup to the starch chain and "a" represents the nutnber of acrylamide substi-tuents per anhydroglucose unit of said starch molecule (frequent-ly referred to in the art as degree of substitution or D.S.).
In Formula I, Q may be any divalent organo group which joins the acrylamide radical to the starch chain (e.g., linked to D and acrylamide nitrogen atoms via carbon linkages). The starch oxygen or sulfur atom and acrylamide nitrogen atom may be directly linked together by a single carbon atom or an organo group comprised of a plurality of carbon atoms with the starch D and . .
- N - C - C = ~H

groups of the acrylamide starch being divalently linked by differ-ent Q carbon atoms. The - Q - group may be comprised of substi-tuted or unsubstituted straight or branched aliphatic groups (e.g., alkylene), substituted or unsubstituted arylene group (e.g., naphthaiene, phenylene, etc.) as well as divalent organo groups which contain carbon to non-carbon atom linkages (e.g., organo ethers and thioethers, sulfonyl, N-methylene substituted secondary and tertiary amines such as a -CH2-N(H)-Q- radical. The Q group linking chain may contain carbonyl, carbonylhydroxy, thio-carbonyl, etc. groups as well as monovalent substituents such as hydroxy, halo, (e.g., Br., F, Cl and I), alkyl, aryl, hydroxyalkyl, hydroxyaryl, alkoxy, aryloxy, carboxyalkyl, carbaxyaryl, amine substituents, combinations thereof and the like. Advantageously the divalent Q organo group contains less than 10 carbon atoms and preferably no more than 7 carbon atoms.

In Formula I, R and R may be members selected from the group consisting of mono-organo and hydrogen substituents. The R
and Rl mono-organo group may contain an ester, ether, carboxylic, organo acid, alcohol, hydrocarbyl (e.g., alkyl, aryl, phenyl, etc.) ~09~59 groups as well as divalent organo groups containing non-carbon atom to carbon chain linkages (e.g., such as oxy, sulfonyl, thio, carbonyl groups, etc. as mentioned above with respect to Q).
Advantageously R is either H or a substituted or unsubstituted mono-organo group containing less than 8 carbon atoms such as a lower alkyl or phenyl group. Illustrative substituted mono-organo groups are halo substituted alkyl and phenyl, alkoxy, aryl, phen-oxy, phenol and alkanol and correspondingly thiol, alkanoic, tolyl, benzoyl, carboxy, sulfoalkyl, sulfophenyl, combinations thereof and the like. In the preferred embodiments of this inven-tion, R and Rl are a member selected from the group consisting of ei~her-lnydrogen or a 1-5 carbon alkyl (preferably methyl) and "a"
has a value of at least 0.001.
In the preferred embodiments of this invention, there are provided starch acrylamides represented by the formula:
~ ~1 O R

(II) Starch - D ~(Q )n~ C - N - C - C = CH2 H a D is a member as defined above (preferably oxy), Ql represents a divalent organo group such as Q as defined above, "a" represents the degree of substitution, R and Rl are monovalent groups as de-fined herein and "n" is an integer of 0 to 1.
The starch acrylamides depicted by Formula II may be pre-pared by either reacting a starch or starch derivative containing the appropriate -Q - reactive moiety (if present) with the appro-priate acrylamide reactant. Starch acrylamides which do not con-. tain the -Ql- moiety (i.e., n is O) are typically prepared by reacting the starch with the appropriate N-hydroxy methyl-acryl-amide reagent. Starch acrylamides which contain the -Q - moiety are typically prepared by initially derivatizing the starch so that it contains a hydrogen atom active Ql substituent and then reacting the Ql derivatized starch with an acrylamide which con-~L(J9i6S9 tains an N-methylol group ~e.g., e~her;fication). For e~arnple, etherification of a hydroxyalkylated starch such as hydroxypropyl starch ether or its corresponding polypropylene oxide ether with N-methylol acrylamide provides a starch acrylamide having a moiety which may be represented by the formula -(CH2-C(CH3)H-O ~ H2C(CH3)H-O- wherein nl represents the number of repeating propylene oxide units, (e.g., for hydroxypropyl starch ether, nl would be zero with Ql being -CH(CH3)CH2O-). The Ql moiety for the hydroxyethyl ether and its corresponding polyethylene oxides as well as other unbranched polyalkylene oxide starch ethers may be depicted by the formula -(CH2 ~ 1 ~2 (CH2 ~1 integ~Qr ~ at least 2 and n2 presents the number of repeating starch alkylene oxide units (e.g., for hydroxyethyl starch ether n2 would be zero and nl would equal two). Through appropriate selection of starch derivatives containing different Ql substi-tuents containing- a reactive hydrogen atom, starch acrylamides containing a variety of different Ql linking groups can be pre-pared via the N-methylol acrylamide reaction route.
The starch chain depicted in Formulas I and II repr~sent unmodified or modified starches obtained from a variety of sources such as cereal, leguminous, tuber starches, etc. Illustrative starch sources include tapioca, corn, high-amylose starches, (e.g., corn, pea, etc.), sweet potato, waxy maize, canna, arrowroot, wheat, sorghum, waxy sorghum, waxy rice, soya, rice, pea, amylo-pectin fractions, amylose fractions, combinations thereof and the like. -Typically modified starches include esters, ethers, inhib-ited or cross-llnked, cationic, non-ionic and anionic starch de-rivatives, thinned starch hydrolyzates such as dextrins and malto-dextrins (e.g., of a D.E. less than about 20), pregelled starches, mixtures thereof and the like. The chemically modified starch chains are particularly useful when it is desired to further modi-fy or impart further functionality to the starch acrylamide. A

-)91659 more uniEorm product and hic3h~r l~vel of substitution can be achieved with non-bireEringent starch reactants (e.y., non-granu-lar or gelatinized starch). These non-birefringent starch reac-tants may suitably be prepared by conventional thinning,pregelling, chemical derivatization techniques, etc.
Illustrative starch acrylamides depicted in Formula II may be prepared by reacting N-methylol acrylamides with starch in the presence of an acid or acid generating catalyst and a polymeriza-tion inhibitor by the following etherification equation III:

Rl o R
_ _ (III) Starch LOH + a(HO - CH2 - N - C - C = CH2) (A ¦H+ (B) r V Rl O ~ +
Starch _ o - CH2 - N - C - C C 2 a(H2O) _ a (C) (D) wherein -(OH)a in reactant A represents those reactive starch hydroxyl groups which are etherified with the N-methylol acryla-mide reactant (B), R and Rl are mono-organo or hydrogen groups such as defined herein, "a" in reactant B represents the moles of N-methylol acrylamide reacted with the starch to yield starch acrylamide (C) which contains an acrylamide derivatization level of "a", and H+ represents an acid or acid generating etherifying catalyst. The above N-methylol acrylamide reaction III may also be used to prepare a starch acrylamide reaction product (C) wherein Q as illustrated in Formula I contains an alkylene oxy or arylene oxy group by reacting the corresponding hydroxyaryl or hydroxyalkyl starch ethers (e.g., hydroxypropyl and hydroxyethyl starch ethers) and N-methylol acrylamide wherein Rl and R groups are as defined. Substituted acrylamides which contain a reactive N-methylol group linked to the acrylamide nitrogen atoms by inter-vening divalent Q organo groups and starches containing cationic 6S~3 and anionic or ionic acrylamid~ substituents may also be prepared by etherifying a starch with the appropriate N-methylol acrylamide (e.g., sodium-2-N-methylol acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate, a N-methylol acrylamide quaternary ammonium halide such as 3~N-methylol acrylamido)-3-methyl butyl trimethyl ammonium chloride, etc.).
The R, Rl and Q groups and the extent of derivatization therewith (i.e., "a") have a pronounced effect upon the character and functional attributes of the acrylamide reaction product.
Representative Rl substituents include hydrogen, N-arylol; the N-~lkylamines and N-arylamines; N-organo cationic, anion or ionic sub~i uents; such as N-methyl-; N-ethyl-; N-isopropyl-; N-n-butyl-; N-isobutyl-; N-n-dodecyl-; N-n-octadecyl-; N-cyclohexyl-;
N-phenyl-; N-(2-hydroxy-1,1-dimethylpropyl)-; N-p-hydroxyben~yl-;
N-(3-hydroxybutyl)-; N-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethylbenzyl)-; N-(3-hydroxy-l,l-dimethylbutyl)-; N-(2-hydroxy-1,1-dimethylethyl)-;
~; N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-; N-(5-hydroxy-1-naphthyl)-; combinations thereof and the like.
Similar to Rl, the R group may therein bear monovalent organo or hydrogen substituents. Illustrati~e acrylamide react-ants include N-methylol and N-methylthio acrylamides such as N-(hydroxymethyl) acrylamide; N-(hydroxymethyl)-N-[(l-hydroxymethyl) propyl] acrylamide; N-(hydroxymethyl)-2-alkyl acrylamides, (e.g., N-(hydroxymethyl)-2-(methyl-heptyl)acrylamide; N-[(l-hydroxy-methyl)-l-nonyl]-2-methyl acrylamide; N-(l-hydroxymethyl)-2-methyl acrylamide; N-(hydroxymethyl)-2-propyl acrylamide; etc.) N-(mercaptomethyl) acrylamide; N-methylol-N-isopropyl acrylamide;

3-N-(methylol acrylamido)-3-methyl butyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (cationic); sodium-2-N-methylol acrylamido-2-methyl pro-pane sulfonate (anionic - CH2:C(H)C(:O)N(CH2OH)C[(CH3)2]CH2SO3Na ), combinations thereof and the like.

Reaction III is suitably conducted in the presence of known 109~6S~

acid or acid-genex~tin~ c~talysts of sueficient strcnykh to catalyze the con~ensation r~ac~ion. Illustrative catalysts include citric and tartaric acid, ammonium salts such as the ammonium chlorides and phosphates, monoammonium acid phosphate, zinc chloride, etc. In general, the acid or acid generating catalysts permit the condensation reaction to proceed over a broad reaction temperature range (e.g., liquefaction temperature of the solvent system to below decomposition temperature of the reactants). At the lower reaction temperatures (e.g., 40C. or less), the reaction rate is slow and accordingly reaction temper-ature~ of greater than 50C. are typically employed. Advantage-ously''~he condensation'reaction is conducted at temperatures ranging from about 75C. to about 150C. At temperatures between about 100C. to about 125C. (the preferred range3 an acrylamide D.S. level between about 0.03 to about 0.1 can typically be accomplished within a'reaction time interval of about 5 to 15 m~ n,1~t'5 .
' 'Premature polymerization of the acrylamide or starch acryl-amide can be effectively avoided by conducting the condensation reaction in the presence of a polymerization inhibitor in an amount sufficient to effectively inhibit the polymerization there-of. Illustrative known polymerization inhibitors, typically used in trace amounts, include hydroquinone and derivatives thereof (e.g., 2,5-di-t-butyl-, 9,10-phenanthio-, 1,4-naphtho-, monoethyl ether of 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzo-, quinones, etc.-), 2,4-dinitro-chloro- and tri-nitrobenzene, catechol, p-hydroxy-di-phenylamine, N-N -di-phenylphenylene diamine, N-phenyl-beta-naphthylamine, combinations thereof and the like. The water-soluble polymeriza-tion inhibitors (e.g., hydroquinone) are preferred.
The starch-acrylamides may be prepared via solution, slurry, dry, semi-dry or other appropriate condensation processes. To prepare a starch-acrylamide having a D.S. level of 0.03 or higher, ~Ogl~Sg it is dcslrable to uniformly di~yer~e the acrylamide, acid or acid generating catal~st ~nd polyrn~ri~tion inhibitor throu~hout the starch reactant. Uniform dispersal of the N-methylol-acryla-mide reactant, catalyst and polymerization inhibitor throughout the starch may be efEectively accomplished by initially forming a starch slurry or treating the starch with an absorbable disper-sant media (e.g., water) in which the acrylamide, catalyst and polymerization inhibitor are soluble or placed in mobile form and thereafter imbibing or absorbing the dispersant and its solutes into the starch granules.
If desired, the starch acrylamides may be prepared via molten, solution or slurry condensation processes (e.g., etherify-ing) wherein the media may simply serve to control the reaction temperature or as solvent media for the reactants, polymerization inhibitor and catalyst system. The most suitable condensation or etherifying media depend largely upon the character of the react-ants and the desired end-product. The reactants may be soluble, insoluble, partially or selectively soluble in the liquid ether-ifying dispersant media. For example, the reactants, polymeriza-tion inhibitor and catalyst may be uniformly dispersed throughoutthe starch and thereafter etherified -n a liquid medium in which etherifying components are insoluble. Conversely, the essential etherifying components may be soluble or completely dispersible in the liquid etherification media and etherified therein.
By appropriately balancing the starch and acrylamide react-ants to the desired degree of acrylamide substitution (e.g., see Equation III), the reaction may be conducted so as to produce a crude reaction product containing a high starch acrylamide solids level with a relatively low level of unreacted reactants, catalyst, polymerization inhibitor contamination (e.g., less than 15% of total dry solids weight). For certain applications (e.g., (adhe-sives), the crude reaction product or crude reaction solids (e.g., residue obtained b~ liqui~l evapora-tion) is useful. It is gener-ally dcsir~ble, howev~r, to produc~ a r~fin~ starch acrylamide product subs-tantially Eree of the reaction media irnpurities (e.g., less than 5~ by weiyh-t). The processing conditions employed in preparing the starch acrylamide affect the ease of converting the starch acrylamide to a refined product ~orm.
Many commercial starch products (e.g., low amylose and the cold-water dispersible starches) absorb a large amount of water before converting to a starch paste. The high amylose and inhib-ited starches also absorb water under certain conditions. Thecatalyst, polymerization inhibitor and acrylamide reactants em-ployed herein are preferably either water-soluble or convertible to a water-dispersible form. Water alone or in combination with other water-dispersible dispersant may be effectlvely utilized as a means for uniformly dispersing the etherifying reagents throughout the starch reactant for solution, slurry, semi-dry or dry reactions.
The characteristics of the starch reactant have a pronounced affect upon the most suitable reaction conditions, especially when it is desired to produce a refined starch acrylamide product.
The starch amylose content typically affects the pasting of the starch reactant during its etherification. High amylose starches (e.g., starches containing more than 50% amylose) characteristic-ally require high pressures and temperatures (e.g., jet cooking at 230F. or more under steam pressure) for pasting. When cooled (e.g., below 100C.) the pasted high amylose starch will typically retrograde into easily recoverable insoluble starch particles.
Certain modified and unmodified low amylose starches retain a granular character in excess water at temperatures below their gelation point (e.g., between 50-70C.) but convert into starch pastes when heated above their gelation temperature. In contrast, certain pregelled starches or modified cold-water-swelling granu-16Sg lar starches (e.g., hydroxypropylated starchcs such as disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 3,705,891 and 3,725,386) readily absorb ~1ater and swell at temperatures well below 120F. and of-ten below 75F.
(e.y.l 45-75~F.).
The pasting of starch in an aqueous media creates recovery and refining difficulties. Conventional techniques utilized by the art to prevent starch pasting may be used for this purpose, (e.g., appropriate blending or etherifying conditions). Starch pasting characteristics can be modified or controlled by the appropriate blending and reaction temperatures (e.g., below starch gel~tion point), appropriate regulation of starch dry solids to water ratio te-g-, sufficient to permit water, catalyst, acryla-mide and polymerization inhibitor adsorption into the starch, but insufficient to cause starch gelation), aqueous dispersion time interval, inclusion of starch swelling inhibitors, combinations thereof and the like. Certain known starch-swelling-inhibitors (e.g., sodium and potassium chlorides, sodium sulfates, isopro-panol, etc.) suppress swelling and pasting and may be used to prevent low pasting starches from converting to a paste form. Due to the high pasting and retrogradation characteristics of high amylose starches, the high amylose starches do not generally pre-sent starch pasting difficulties.
In order to achieve a homogeneous starch acrylamide product, uniform distribution of the essential non-starch reagents through-out the starch reactant is necessary. Uniform distribution of the non-starch reagents throughout the starch reactant may be suitably accompllshed by slurrying the starch in a suitable dis-persant media containing the essential reaction reagents and homo-geneously dispersing these reagents throughout the starch mass.
Upon achieving homogeneity, the dispersant (e.g., water) need not be present to complete the reaction.
The most suitable dispersant for achieving homogeneity of i9 the r~ction rc~tl~3en~s dcp~nds larg~ly upon t:hc~ hydrophilic or hydrophobic properties of ~he starch and acrylarnid~ reactants.
Aqueous systems ~re generally suitable for uniformly dispersing reactants involving hydrophilic starch and/or hydrophil~c acryl-amide reactants. Reactants involving both hydrophobic and hydro-philic reactants are more easily converted to a homogeneous reac-tion mass ~y combining water and a water-miscible organo dispersant (e.g., alkanols, glycerol, ketones, etc.) within which the hydro-phobic reactant will disperse or dissolve. To facilitate the uniform dispersal of hydrophobic reagents and retara starch swell-ing certain organo dispersants (known to inhibit starch swelling and facilitate the uniform dispersal of hydrophobes into aqueous systems) such as isopropanol, t-butyl alcohol, glycerol,-conven-tional surface active agents or emulsifiers, etc. may likewise be used. Conventional lipophilic or hydrophobic dispersants are typically utilized to uniformly disperse hydrophobic reactants.
Due to refining and recovery difficulties, it is advantageous to prepare the starch acrylamide herein under dry (e.g., about 10% water or less) or semi-dry (at least 25~ water) or slurry reaction conditions. The dry reaction proceeds more rapidly to completion. A particularly effective method for preparing a dry or semi-dry solid product is to uniformly disperse the acid or acid generatins catalyst, polymerization inhibitor and acrylamide into an aqueous starch slurry or treat the starch therewith.
After the catalyst, inhibitor and acrylamide have been absorbed or uniformly dispersed throughout the starch reactant, the water is volatized therefrom (preferably by rapid drying techniques such as by vacuum-, drum-, spray-drying) to provide a semi-dry or dry starch reactant which contains uniformly dispersed or occluded within its solid structure the acrylamide,--catalyst and polymerization inhibitor. The resultant dry or semi-dry starch mass can be directly converted to the desired starch acrylamide ~165g reac~lon procluct b~ maintaining i-t at a tcmp~r~ture and for a period of time suff.icient to permit the ether:ificat~on reaction to proceed to the desired D.S. lavel . Conventional hiyh shear thermal mi~ing devices (e.g., votators, extruders, Banbury mixers, etc.) may be employed as a dry reactor. The degree of derivatiza-tion is dependent upon reaction time and temperature. The reac-tion proceeds very slowly below 50C. and more rapidly within the 75C. to 150C. range. Typically the derivatization reaction can be completed within about an hour period at a temperature of 10~-125C. If desired, the reaction temperature and time interval may be used to control the acrylamide derivatization level (e.g., heat for prescribed time interval to achieve desired D.S. level and immediately cool to effectively terminate the reaction).
The crude, dry reaction product may be used directly as a starch coating material or further refined to a starch acrylamide product which is substantially free of by-product impurities.
By-product impurities (e.g., acid catalyst, polymerization inhib-itor, N-methylolacrylamide, etc.) may be effectively removed therefrom by resuspending or slurrying the dry reaction product in water or other suitable dispersant to extract the by-products therefrom. The resultant starch acrylamide solids may then be partitioned from the aqueous by-product extractant (e.g., by filtration or centrifugation) and suitably washed until the starch acrylamide is essentially free from undesirable by-products.
Starch reaction products containing less than 1% by weight unreac-ted acrylamide, catalyst and polymerization inhibitor (preferably less than 0.1%) are conveniently obtained via the dry reaction process.
The starch acrylamides can be tailor-made to serve a multi-tude of end uses heretofore not feasible with conventional starchproducts. The hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of the starch acrylamide may be varied by appropria-te derivatization or ~gl6Sg starch chain length. The pendant acrylarnide sites prov:ide a rneans for restruct~ring the starch backbon~ chains :into a high molecular weight product. The acrylamide sites are suitably adapted for conversion into cross-linked or copolymerized starch products which possess atypical starch properties. Cross-linking or co-polymerization formulations and processing conditions typically used in the curing or copolymerization of acrylamides may be utilized to convert the starch acrylamides to water-insensitive starch solids.
The starch acrylamide may be made to function as a low-temperature pasting starch in a~ueous systems with the added atyp-ical starch characteristic of being convertible into water-insen-sitive starch-based products. The superior attributes of the present starch acrylamides are well illustrated by their function-ality in preparing coated substrates. Desirable aqueous coating application attributes such as high starch solids loading, uni-formity in wetting and adhering to a substrate, paste viscosity stability, aqueous dispersion stability against separation and syneresis, low viscosity, etc., may be initially retained during the formulation and application stages of the coating operation.
Hydrolysis of the starch chain does not detract from their coating function because starch acrylamides can be converted into a strong, flexible water-insensitive solids by curing or polymerization techniques. The pendant acrylamide sites provide a means for restructuring the hydrolyzed starch chains into a high molecular weight, insoluble starch product. For example, starch acrylamides having a starch chain comparable to a hydrolyzate of a D.E. rang-ing from about 0.25 to about 32 (e.g., slightly acid or enzymatic thinned starches, dextrins, maltodextrins, etc.) can be effective-ly used in water-borne coating application at starch solids levels ranging from about 150 to about 1,900 starch acrylamide dry solids for each 100 parts by weight water while still retaining a low, iS9 desirable starch pas~e v:iscosi~y (e.g., at 1 to 7,000 cps, Brook-field viscosity, No. ~ spindlc ~t 20C.).
Comparative to conventior~al ethylenic unsaturated starches, the present starch acrylamides possess superior polymerization and polymerizate attributes. The juxtapositional - N - C - moiety and pendant ethylenically unsaturated group activates the react-ivity of the double bond in the presence of free-radical initiat-ing systems. Unlike allyl starches and other similar unsaturated starches, the present water-dispersible acrylamide starches are generally sufficlently stable against intra- and interpolymeriza-tion and may be conveniently stored under normal ambient tempera-tures. Under free-radical initiating polymerization conditions (e.g., thermal or irradiation induction), the starch acrylamides interpolymerize to form starch interpolymerizates containing recurring interpolymerized units represented by the structure:

R H
_ C C _ . ..~ , O=C H
R -N
Q

D a Starch wherein "R", "Rl", "Q", "D" and "a" are as defined herein. Most typically the individual appendant acrylamide groups will have a molecular weight of less than ~00 and most usually between about 100 to about 200. In general a greater number of different starch chains are interpolymerized and linked together via interpolymer-ized acrylamide ~including other ethylenically unsaturated mono-mers when present in the interpolymerizate reaction) as "a" or the acrylamide D.S. level increases. In the interpolymerized form, the acrylamide groups function as an internally polymerized plasticizer for the interpolymerizate product (e.g., disrupt starch ~a~l~s~
intra and in~rhydroc~n bonclin~ eEf~c~ ~nd crys~allirle st~rch).
The de~ree of interpolymerized acrylamide units in the interpoly-merizate is controllable by -~he D.S. of the starch acrylamide.
As the acrylamide D.S. increases above 1.0, the starch acrylamides herein tend to form interpolymerizates of a more rigid and brittle structure. Interpolymerization brittleness at these elevated acrylamide D.S. levels, however, can be reduced by the characteristics and composition of the acrylamide moieties.
For certain applications,a rigid and brittle starch interpolymer-izate is often desirable. As a general rule, more flexible inter-polymerizates are achieved as the acrylamide D.S. level decreases below the 0.5 level. ~oreover, the lower acrylamide D.S. levels (e.g., about 0.01 to about 0.2) reduce the starch acrylamide raw material costs while still affording a sufficient quantity of polymerizable acrylamide units to permit the unpolymerized, water-dispersible, starch acrylamide to convert to a water-indispersible form. Dried films or shaped objects obtained from unpolymerized starch acrylamides typically redisperse~into an--aqueous dispers~
ant media (e.g., water or water-methanol). Centrifugation of these unpolymerized starch acrylamides at a centrifugal force of 1000 g's for 60 minutes typically results in substantially lesser (e.g., at least two fold) amount of centrifugal residue than those arising from centrifugation of the interpolymerized starch acrylamides. In contrast to allyl starches, the interpolymeri-zation of the low D.S. starch acrylamides herein is more control-lable (e.g., under free-radical induction) and normally yields a more uniform interpolymerizable product without excessive starch chain intrapolymerization. Starch acrylamides of a D.S. ranging from about 0.005 to about 0.1 are particularly well adapted for use in achieving flexible, interpolymerizates for coating applic-ations.

The ability to use these starch acrylamides at a low pasting ~Og~6S9 viscosity and hic3h so]1ds level makcs ~he starch acxyl~mides herein particularly well sui~ed for high speQd ther~nal or irrad-iation curing processes and apparatus. Dried or wet starch acryl-amide coating which contain uniformly dispersed therein polymer-izable ethylenic unsaturated monomers, a free-radical catalyst (e.g., hydrogen peroxide) or alternatively photoinitiators such as benzophenones can be converted into flexible, relatively clear interpolymerizate coatings via ultra-violet or thermal curing techniques. The hydrophilic starch acrylamides (i.e., those dispersible in water) can be effectively used for coating a~pli-- cations relying upon water as the sole liquid dispersant vehicle.
The starch acrylamides may be used to protectively coat a wide variety of substrates such as textiles, papers, synthetic natural polymers, metals, wood, etc. Starch acrylamide coatings or shaped objects which possess excellent tensile strength and elong-ation properties; flexibility, dynamic peel and impact strength, water and detergent resistance and improved resistance toward bacteriological and enzymatic-degradation may be obtained by interpolymerizing the starch acrylamide with other concomitant ethylenically unsaturated monomers (e.g., acrylates, acrylics, acrylamides, etc.) and conventional cross-linking reagents in the presence of free-radical catalysts or initiators by conventional thermally or irradiation induced free-radical polymerization techni~ues. Conventional free-radical polymerization initiators such as the organic and inorganic peroxides (e.g., hydrogen peroxide, cumene hydroperoxide, caproyl peroxide), persulfates (e.g., ammonium, sodium or potassium persulfate), oxidation-reduc-tion initiator systems (e.g., sodium bisulfite, thiosulfates, sulfites in combination with persulfates or peroxides, etc.) azo initiators (e.g., azo di-isobutyro-nitrile), and other free-radical generating catalyst systems at levels (e.g., about 0.25 to about 3%) sufficient to initiate its interpolymerization may :1091~;59 be incorporated irlto the stclrch ~cryl~lmidcs to provide ~n inter-polymerizable starch acrylamid~ produc~ ornoc~eneous admixt-lres of the starGh acryl~mi~e with a polyrn~riz~ion initiator system provides a latently polymerizable starch product. ~he unpoly-merizable starch-free radical system may be conveniently preformed into the appropriate shape or form. The preformed unpolymerized starch product may be easily converted to the desired interpoly-merizate product by initiating the polymerization catalyst system to generate free radicals (e.g., thermal, irradiation, etc. induc-tion) and thereby cause interpolymerization of the starch acryl-am;de moieties.
- The following examples are merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.
EXAMPLE I
A starch acrylamide was prepared by etherifying a low visco-sity, acid-thinned granular waxy maize starchl with N-methylol acrylamide in the presence of an acid catalyst (ammonium dihydro-gen orthophosphate) and a polymerization inhibitor (hydroquinone).
A starch reaction system (at 23C.) was prepared by adding 505 ml.
solution of ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate (0.141 kg adjusted to pH 4.6 with ammonium hydroxide) to 1.8 liters of distilled water, followed by the addition thereto of 0.272 kg of N-methylol-acrylamide (as 40% water - 60% N-methylolacrylamide solution) and 0.25 grams of hydroquinone. Uniform distribution of the N-methylolacrylamide, catalyst and polymerization inhibitor through-out the waxy maize starch granules reactant was then accomplished by slowly adding 2.82 kg. of the waxy maize starch reactant (2.5 kg. dry starch) with manual stirring until a starch dough consis-tency was achieved. The starch dough (containing the absorbed water and N-methylolacrylamide, catalyst and polymerization 1 - STA-TAPE 100 - manufactured by the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company - A low viscosity, acid-thinned, granular waxy maize starch (100% amylopectin) typically characterized as having a Brookfield viscosity of about 500 CPS (~2 spindle, 20 rpm, 150C. at a dry solids of 40-45%) and a D.E. of less than 1%.

~09~6;S9 inhibi~or solut~s) w~s then u~iforrnly ~nd ~qually sp~ad onto two stainless steel trays (12-3/q" ~ 16-3/~ nd allo~ed to dry therein at room temperature (e.g., 23C., facilitated by periodic crushing and granulation of the friable mass into smaller particle size). After the water content of the starch mass had been re-duced to 20% (total weight basis), the dried mass was transferréd to a high velocity forced air oven maintained at 125C. After 65 minutes in the oven, the crude starch acrylamide reaction product was removed from the oven, uniformly suspended in six liters of distilled water by manual mixing and then filtered on a Lapp filter. The starch acrylamide filter cake was washed with dis--till~d water until free of ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate (molybate test) and then vacuum filtered to remove excess water therefrom. A dry starch acrylamide was obtained therefrom by drying the crushed filter cake in a forced air oven at 55C.
(approximately 12 hours).
A total of 2.64 kg. of the dry starch acrylamide product was ïecovered. The starch acrylamide D.S. was 0.092 (0.76~ N assay).
EXAMPLE II
A low viscosity, starch acrylamide product was prepared in accordance with Example I, employing the following portions of reagents (parts by weight basis):
115 STA-TAPE 100 Starch (100 parts by weight dry starch basis) 12.5 N-methylolacrylamide (as 60% aqueous soln.) 3.0 ammonium chloride (acid catalyst) 0.0063 methyl hydroquinone (polymerization inhibitor) 115 water The aforementioned reagents were uniformly blended to a stiff dough consistency, then spread on a stainless steel tray and al-lowed to air-dry at ambient temperature (23C.) to a semi-dried product of 24.6~ water content (total weight basis). The result-2 - see Footnote 1 916$~

ant unreact~d product was th~n convert~d to a starch ~crylarnid~
by placing 22.5 parts by weight o~ the unreact~d semi-dry blend into a 125C orced air oven for 45 minutes followed by immedi-ately cooling of the resultant reaction product for purposes of effectively terminating the condensation reaction. The resultant crude starch acrylamide reaction product was converted to a re-fined starch acrylamide by slurrying in water, filtering and washing the filtered residue with water followed by a methanol wash. The resultant starch acrylamide was 0.15 (as determined by nitrogen analysis - 1.2~ starch acrylamide nitrogen content).
The effect of starch acrylamide interpolymerization was studied. A portion of the original starch acrylamide (0.53g) was uniformly pasted in 5.5 milliliters of 95C water, cooled to 23C, whereupon 5 milligrams of potassium persulfate polymerization catalyst (0.5% persulfate in water solution) was uniformly dispersed by manual mixing into the cooled starch acrylamide paste. Without adding potassium persulfate catalyst, a control 0.3 grams starch acrylamide sample was uniformly pasted in 3.1 milliliters 95C
water, and cooled to 23C. The persulfate containing sample and the control sample were then uniformly layered (at about 30 mil thickness) onto a stainless steel tray and heated for 45 minutes at 80C. Both the unpolymerized control and polymerized starch acrylamide formed clear films. Each of the resultant films was weighed to a 0.2 gram test sample and then immersed for 60 minutes in 20 milliliters water at 75C. The unpolymerized control film disintegrated and the interpolymerized starch acrylamide film ~swelled. The amount of soluble and insoluble starch acrylamides for each immersion was then determined by centrifuging the immersions at 103g's centrifugal force for 10 minutes. The unpolymerized starch acrylamide yielded 79% by weight soluble starch acrylamide and a l~gl65g 21~ centrifugal res:idue. rI~he interE)olymerized starch acrylarnide film was significantly more resistant to redispersion in water under the aforementioned immersion test conditions (more than 15 times). The centrifugal residue from the immersed interpolymerized starch acrylamide film was 95% of the total starch acrylamide starch weight with the balance being in the water-soluble starch acrylamide form. The high centrifugal residue for the starch acrylamide interpolymerizable film was attributable to the inter-polymerization of the ethylenically unsaturated starch units to a high molecular weight starch interpolymerizate product. The essentially water-soluble starch acrylamide paste was effectively converted to a starch interpolymerizate having a 20 fold decrease in water-dispersibility properties. In contrast, the unpolymer-ized starch acrylamide film was similar to the starting starch acrylamide paste and essentially retained its water-dispersibility properties.
EXAMPLE III
This example illustrates the relationship between time and temperature in preparing starch acrylamides with varying D.S.
levels under dry reaction conditions. Spray-dried particles consisting of a dry homogeneous mass of starch, N-methylol acryl-amide, acid catalyst and polymerization inhibitor were prepared~
from starch slurries consisting of the following reagents:
Waxy Maize Starch STA-TAPE 100 Starch Starch (dry basis) 3450 3370 N-Methylolacrylamide 624 624 (dry basis) Monoammonium Phosphate878 878 Methylhydroquinone 0.6 0.6 Water (23C.) 9052 9055 The slurries were prepared by charging the designated amounts of water to a mixing vessel, adding the monoammonium - \
~L()9~659 phosphate th~r~to, adjust:incJ to a pfl ~.6-~.7 (~od:iurn h~d~oY.ide or sulfuric acid), ~ollowed by ~he methylhydroquinone (as 0.004% by weight water solution at 40C.) addition and then slowly adding the designated amount of starch with moderate mixing for one hour.
The resultant starch slurries were then spray ~ried under the following conditions:
Waxy Maize Starch STA-TAPE 100 Starch Air, ft /min. 6.0-6.4 6.0-6.5 Temp. F., inlet 265-275 260 Av. Drying Loss, % 6 6 Time, Hr./gal. 2 1.5 , The spray-dried products were stored under ambient condi-tions (23C.) for several months with periodic nitrogen analysis to ascertain the starch acrylamide D.S. The nitrogen assays were conducted upon spray-dried particles which had been purified in accordance with the Example I refining method. The following Table 1 records the starch acrylamide D.S. levels obtained at varying time intervals under the ambient dry reaction conditions.

Waxy Maize Starch ' STA-TAPE '100 St'ar'ch %N ~N
Time, (dry Cor- ' Time, (dry Cor-days basis) rected D.S. days basis) rected D.S.
0 0.05* 0.02 0.0230 0.006* 0.03 0.0035 14 0.18 0.15 0.017510 0.16 0.13 0.015 49 0.36 0.33 0.03945 0.45 0.4Z 0.05 109 0.48 0.45 0.0535105 0.65 0.62 0.074 *Nitrogen in untreated starch is 0.03 All the Table 1 starch acrylamides will paste in water to give homogeneous solutions indicating negligible, if any crosslinking.
As illustrated by the Table 1 data, the starch acrylamide deriva-tization reaction proceeds slowly at ambient temperature. At ~9~6sg reaction tcmpcratures r.~ncJln~ ~rorn 55 65C. no d~t~ctable d~riva-t~zation is observed over a ~wo~hour rcaction time while measur-able but nominal derivatization occurs when the ary reaction is conducted at 75C. for two hours.
Portions of the aforementioned spray-dried starch particles were dry'reacted at temperatures of 105C., 125C., and 150C.
Termination of the dry reaction at the designated time intervals of Table 2 was accomplished by immediate cooling of the reaction mass to a temperature below 23C. Nitrogen assays were conducted upon the starch acrylamides in which the unreacted contaminants were removed by the Example I refining methodology. The results of these elevated dry reactions at the designated reaction times and temperatures are recorded in Table 2.

Waxy Maize Starch STA-TAPE 100 Starch Time Temp. C. '(Min'.) ~N D _ %N D.S.
105 16 0.50 0.0~ 0.41 ~.049 105 42 1.08 0.13 125 16 0.93 0.113 0.98 0.12 150 ' 5 0.89 0.108 0.73 0.088 As illustrated by the Table 2 data, both the reaction tim,e and temperature affect the degree of starch acrylamide derivatiza-tion. If desired, the starch acrylamide D.S. level may be effect-ively controlled by permitting the dry reaction to proceed for a period of time sufficient to yield the desired D.S. level at any given temperature. As evident by a-comparison between the Table 1 and Table 2 data, the dry reaction proceeds more quickly to completion at temperatures above 100C. The afore,mentioned starch acrylamides (crude or refined) may be homopolymerized or copoly-merized with other ethylenically unsaturated monomers via free-radical initiation to provide interpolymerizates containing ` ~(39~;S9 l-ecurrin~ and :in-~erpolymerizc!d st~rch clcrylarnide mo:ieties. ~rhe degree of swellincJ of -the s~rch ~crylamide interp~lyrrlerizates in water (at 75C.) decrelses as the D.S. level increases. The higher D.S. starch ~crylamide interpolymerizates (e.g., above a 0.05 D.S.) are more resistant to swelling in water than those of a lower D.S. value. Starch acrylamide interpolymerizates which have a starch acrylamide D.S. of 0.03 or higher will typically yield less than 20% soluble when subjected to the immersion and centrifugation test of Example II as opposed to the unpolymerized starch acrylamides thereof which typically exhibit essentially complete dissolution in water at temperatures in excess of their .'!- gelation point.
EXAMPLE IV
Starch acrylamides respectively having a D.S. 0.085 and 0.07 were prepared according to Example I. The reagents consist-ing of 2820 grams STA-TAPE 100 (2500 gms dry starch), 271.8 grams N-methylolacrylamide (60% aqueous solution), 141 grams mono-am~onium phosphate (acid catalyst), 0.25 grams hydroquinone (poly-merization inhibitor) and 2320 grams water were uniformly blended to a dough consistency and dried under ambient conditions to a 10%
moisture level (i.e., 90% dry solids). The resultant dry blend was oven reacted in an oven at 125C. for a period of time suffic-ient to provide 0.085 D.S. starch acrylamide and 0.07 D.S. starch acrylamide. The unreacted methylolacrylamide, inhibitor and catalyst contaminants were removed by refining the crude starch acrylamide according to the refining method of Example II.
A photosensitive starch acrylamide was prepared by adding a 0.5 ml. water solution containing 40 mg sodium-2-benzoylbenzoate and 30 mg. triethanol amine to 4.86 grams of the 0.085 D.S. starch acrylamide which had been pasted in a sufficient amount of water to yield a 30% (dry solids) starch acrylamide paste. The fluid, photosensitive starch paste was uniformly spread onto a glass ~0916S9 plate and irradiated with a sun lamp posit:ioned sl~ inchcs above the glass plate. After 20 second8 irra~iation, the starch acr~1-amide had polymerized sufficiently to form a non-flowable gel.
The ultra-violet irradiation was continued for an additional 100 seconds. The photoinitiated and interpolymerized starch film coating was then placed in a 100C. oven for purposes of drying the film. Based on total starch film weight, the interpolymeri-zate film yielded an 89% cen*rifugation residue (i.e.~, insolubles) when testèd according to Example II immersion and centrifugation test.
A 10 gram sample of the 0.07 D.S. starch acrylamide was pasted in water (30% starch solids) and uniformly admixed with 1 ml. of methylene blue solution (0.0032g/50 ml.) and 0.006 ml. of sodium bicarbonate-p-toluene sulfinic acid solution (1.68 g and 2.14 g respectively in 50 ml. of water). The solution was spread into a beaker and placed upon a window-well with a southern sun-light exposure. The starch solution gelled within 30 minutes.
After 72 hours exposure, seventy-eight percent starch acrylamide insolubilization was effected by interpolymerization of the starch acrylamide.
In a similar manner, a potassium persulfate polymerizable starch acrylamide (D.S. 0.03) was prepared by adding a catalytic amount of potassium persulfate to an acrylamidomethyl starch paste (8% starch acrylamide solids). A portion of the resultant solu-tion was dried for 16 hours at 100C. while the other portion was allowed to dry at ambient temperature. Pursuant to the immersion and centrifugation test, the centrifugation residue for the 100C.
dried film was 88~ insolubles while the ambient dried film yielded 27% insolubles. This test was repeated with 0.142 D.S. starch acrylamide with the 100C. dried films yielding 95.5~ insolubles and the room-temperature dried films yielding 90% insolubles.
The significantly higher percentage of insolubles for the 0.142 l~gl~S9 D.S. s-tarch acrylam;de cornpAr~ive to the 0.03 starch is attribut-able to the ac~ the hic~hex D.S. S~LIrCh contains more polymeriz-able ethylenic unsa-turakion. ~ccordingly the 0.142 D.S. starch under ambient polymerization conditions yielded a more highly cross-linked starch than was achieved via the 0.03 D.S. starch.
Since many embodiments of this invention may be made and since many changes may be made in the embodiments described, the foregoing is interpreted as illustrative and the invention is de-fined by the claims appended hereafter.

Claims (11)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a method for polymerizing an ethylenically unsat-urated starch derivative in the presence of a polymerization initiator, the improvement which comprises interpolymerizing a starch acrylamide wherein the starch acrylamide is character-ized as comprising a starch chain and appendant acrylamide groups contiguously attached to said chain with the appendant groups being characterized as containing terminal - ? - ? - ?
= CH2 moieties.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the acryla-mide D.S. of said starch acrylamide ranges from about 0.03 to about 1 and the average molecular weight of the appendant acryl-amide groups is less than 400.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein said starch acrylamide comprises a starch acrylamide represented by the for-mula:

wherein starch represents a starch chain, R1 is a member sel-ected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a monoorgano group linked to the nitrogen atom by a monovalent carbon link-age, R represents a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and monoorgano group linked to the alpha carbon atom of the ethylenically unsaturated group by a monovalent carbon linkage, Q represents an organo group which divalently links the D group to the acrylamide group; D is a member selected from the group consisting of sulfur and oxygen, and "a" repre-sents the number of acrylamide substituents per anhydroglucose unit of said starch molecule.

4. The method according to claim 2 wherein R is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and methyl, D is an oxy group and R1 is hydrogen and "a" repre-sents a D.S. ranging from about 0.03 to about 0.5.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein Q is a methylene group.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the starch acrylamide is characterized as forming a homogeneous starch paste when one part of the starch acrylamide is admixed with 100 parts by weight water at 95°C.

7. A polymerized starch acrylamide composition com-prising recurring and interpolymerized starch acrylamide units represented by the structure:

wherein starch represents a starch chain, R1 is a member sel-ected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a monoorgano group, R represents a member selected from the group consist-ing of hydrogen and a monoorgano group, Q represents an organo group which divalently links the D group with the nitrogen atom; D is a member selected from the group consisting of sulfur and oxygen, and "a" represents the number of inter-polymerized acrylamide substituents per anhydroglucose unit of said starch chain.

8. The polymerized starch acrylamide composition according to claim 7 wherein the composition is characterized as yielding a centrifugal residue at least about 80% of the total polymerized starch composition acrylamide weight when one part by weight of the polymerized starch acrylamide com-position is immersed in 100 parts by weight water at 75°C. for 60 minutes and the immersed polymerized starch acrylamide and water is then subjected to a centrifugal force of 1000 g's for 10 minutes.

9. The polymerized starch acrylamide composition according to claim 7 wherein "a" ranges from about 0.003 to about 1.0 and D is an oxy group.

10. The polymerized starch acrylamide composition according to claim 8 wherein D is an oxy group, and Q is linked to the nitrogen atom by a methylene moiety, R is a member sel-ected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a lower alkyl, R1 is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and lower alkyl, and "a" ranges from about 0.003 to about 0.5.

11. The polymerized starch acrylamide composition according to claim 8 wherein R is a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and methyl, R1 is hydrogen, Q is methylene, D is oxy and "a" ranges from about 0.05 to about 0.2.