in the reported experiments, cotton cellulose was graft copolymerized with poly(acrylonitrile) to different levels. the copolymers so obtained together with the nongrafted cellulose were oxidized at different ph's (4-10) and temperatures (50-70 $degree$ c) with potassium persulfate. the oxidation reaction was studied with respect to oxygen consumption, mass loss, and changes in copper number and carboxyl content of the cellulosic materials. it was found that the rates of oxidation at ph 4 for the copolymers are substantially higher than that of the nongrafted cellulose and the rate of oxidation is higher the higher the level of grafting. the reverse is the case at ph 10. the magnitude of the mass loss is substantially lower in the case of grafted cellulose than in the case of nongrafted cellulose. the cellulosic copolymers with higher graft levels show lower mass loss than those having lower graft levels. it is assumed that the presence of poly(acrylonitrile) graft in the molecular structure of cellulose impedes cellulose chain scission without necessarily preventing oxidation of cellulose hydroxide. 7 refs