Abstract1,2‐Propanediol–cellulose–acrylamide graft copolymers (PCACs) were developed for enhanced oil recovery. They were prepared with acrylamide and 1,2‐propanediol (PDO)–cellulose, which was formed through the addition of glycols to cellulose by the Shotten–Baumann reaction between 3‐chloro‐1,2‐propanediol and cellulose. The graft copolymerization was initiated with a redox system between Ce4+ and glycols in cellulose. The infrared spectrum of PDO–cellulose had some characteristic absorption bands around 2960 (νCH) and 1050 cm−1 (νCO) that also appeared for the PDO group and pyranose ring of cellulose, respectively. The rate of Ce4+ consumption by PDO–cellulose was investigated through the calculation of the overall kinetic constant from the slopes of ln(D − DR) versus time (where D is the absorbance and DR is the absorbance of the original polysaccharide solution) The results showed that PDO–cellulose had high reactivity and that there were two mechanisms of oxidation by Ce4+ with PDO–cellulose. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 3022–3029, 2004