The influence of 1-decene as the second monomer on the melt-grafting behavior of maleic anhydride (MAH) onto polypropylene (PP) was studied with differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We found that the value of the grafting degree increased from 0.68% for pure MAH-g-PP to 1.43% for the system with a 1-decene/MAH molar ratio of 0.3, whereas the maximum value with styrene (St) as the second monomer was 0.98% under an St/MAH molar ratio of 1.0. Compared with the contribution of St/MA-Hg-PP to the peeling strength between the PP and polyamide (PA) layer for a PP/PA laminated film, the introduction of 1-decene/MAH-g-PP increased the peeling strength from 180 g/15 mm to 250 g/15 mm. 1-Decene inhibited the chain scission behavior of PP. 1-Decene reacted with MAH to form a 1-decene/MAH copolymer or the Alderene reaction product before the two monomers grafted onto PP. The grafting of the reactive product onto PP greatly improved the grafting degree of MAH. What is more, because of the similar chemical structures of 1-decene and PP, the affinity of 1-decene with PP was higher than that of St. Compared with St, the introduction of less 1-decene led to a higher grafting degree and higher peeling strength. Therefore, we concluded that 1-decene was more effective for improving the grafting degree of MAH onto PP. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 119: 102-110, 2011