Chitosan/poly(methyl methacrylate-co-butyl methacrylate) (PMMA-co-BMA) blends were prepared via a solution blending method in the presence of formic acid. The compatibility of the bioblends was studied by different methods, such as Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy, micro-Raman imaging, thermogravimetric analyses, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopic analysis. According to the obtained results, it has been concluded that the PMMA-co-BMA/chitosan bioblends are compatible in all the studied compositions. Specific interactions between carbonyl and methyl groups of the PMMAco-BMA structure and methyl, amine and amide groups of chitosan are responsible for the observed compatibility.
INTRODUCTIONConcerns about environmental problems such as global warming, pollution of natural resources, renewable energy use and cost of synthetic polymers have motivated an intense research of sustainable polymer systems where at least one component is biodegradable or biobased [1] . The commercial importance of polymers also have increased the need of discover of new materials with specific properties and applications; for this purpose new polymers have been synthesized and chemical modifications in conventional polymers have also been proposed, but these methods are more complicated [2,3] . However, the mixture of two or more polymers, giving rise to a polymer blend, seems to be an economical method to obtain new polymeric materials with desirable properties, without the need of synthesizes specialized polymer systems [4,5] .