Cassia pudibunda (CP) seed gum was grafted with poly(acrylonitrile) using persulphate /ascorbic acid redox initiator. Optimal grafting Conditions were determined and maximum % grafting and % efficiency observed were 294 and 85.3%, respectively. Grafted CP gum (gum-g-polyacrylonitrile; CP-g-PAN) was characterized using FTIR, XRD, and TGA analysis. The CP-g-PAN sample with maximum %G was observed to be water insoluble, however, 1% solution of the base-hydrolyzed CP-g-PAN had a viscosity of 114.7 centipoises, which was observed to increase continuously for first 5 days and there upon became fixed and was shown to be stable even after 20 days when left at room temperature. Water and saline retention for CP-g-PAN after 10 min soaking were observed to be 47 and 30.15 g/g, respectively. Thus, base-hydrolyzed CP-g-PAN samples may find use as water sorbents and their aqueous solutions may be used commercially where medium to low viscosity solutions with high shelf life is the requirement.(c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.