Development of a nonaqueous solvent system for poly(vinyl alcohol) and itscharacterization

Solubility of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) in water prevents the preparation o f various derivatives through homogeneous techniques as most of the derivat ives thus formed are insoluble in aqueous medium. There are a number of sol vents that can swell PVA under hot conditions but cannot dissolve PVA. In t he present study, N,N-dimethyl acetamide (DMAc) has been identified as solv ent in which PVA can be dissolved in the presence of an equimolar amount of lithium chloride (LiCl). H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1-NMR), C-13-NM R, infrared (IR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies have been carried out to characterize the regenerated poly(vinyl alcohol) (RPVA). DMAc-LiCl is f ound to be a true solvent system for dissolution of PVA. An attempt has als o been made to prepare poly(vinyl acetate) from this solution of PVA by a h omogeneous technique. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.