A new derivative of PAM, acrylamide was copolymerized with succinic anhydride, and the reaction product reacted with three dyes, anthocyanin, bromophenol, and thymol. The prepared polymers were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and UV-visible spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, and thermal analysis. FT-IR spectroscopy showed the disappearance of two bands near 3450 and 3380 cm-1 for the stretching vibrations of the primary amine which indicates for the formation of amides. The UV-photolysis of aqueous solutions of different concentrations of the polymers was studied. Polyacrylamide-g-succinic anhydride showed an increase in polymerization under light. An increase of ~ 50% was observed for a 200 mg/L solution after 10 h of irradiation. The polyacrylamide-g-succinic anhydride-anthocyanin polymer also showed an increase in polymerization with continuous irradiation. The percentage increase was ~ 26% for a 1000 mg/L solution of the polymer after 10 h under UV-light. The same behavior was observed for anthocyanin, and the highest percentage increase was ~23% for 15000 mg/L of dye. On the other hand, the polyacrylamide-g-succinic anhydride-bromophenol, polyacrylamide-g-succinic anhydride-thymol polymers underwent photodegradation upon UV-illumination. This work has shown that the photodegradation of PAMs can be prevented by copolymerization with suitable dyes.
