Copolymer of starch grafted with lactic acid (LA) could be directly prepared by reaction of cornstarch with lactic acid and with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as the catalyst. The structure of starch/LA copolymer was characterized by IR, XRD, SEM and ¹H-NMR. The effects of NaOH concentration, ratios of starch and LA, reaction temperature and reaction time on the grafting degree were also investigated and the results showed that the highest grafting degree of starch could reach 33.60% when the graft copolymerization was carried out in 0.40 mol l^-1 NaOH aqueous solution for 9 h at 90°C with 1: 6 ratio of starch and lactic acid.

Au/ZnO nanocomposites have been prepared by a simple chemical method. For the first time, the nanocomposites were directly used as photocatalysts for hydroxylation of aromatic hydrocarbons under UV and visible light irradiation. The results show that the as-prepared photocatalysts display high photocatalytic activity for UV and visible catalytic hydroxylation of benzene. Without the assistance of any solvent or additive, high selectivity and high conversion efficiency were still obtained. Different photocatalytic mechanisms were proposed depending on whether excitation happens on ZnO semiconductor or on the surface plasmon band of Au. The former is Au nanoparticles act as electron buffer due to irradiation by UV light and ZnO nanoparticles as reactive sites for hydroxylation of benzene, the latter is that Au nanoparticles act as light harvesters and inject electrons into ZnO conduction band and as photocatalytic sites under visible light irradiation.