6533b7d4fe1ef96bd12630fb

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Mass spectrometric investigation of polymers: Thermal degradation of truxillic and truxinic polyamides

subject

description

The thermal degradation mechanism of four isomeric truxillic and truxinic polyamides were investigated by direct pyrolysis in the ion source of a mass spectrometer. Thermal degradation reactions were followed directly by this method by detecting the thermal and electron impact-induced fragments. The results obtained have shown that the thermal degradation products are sensibly different for the head-to-head (hh) and head-to-tail (ht) polymers and that the predominant pyrolytic process is the cyclobutane ring cleavage. In the hh isomers, both symmetrical and asymmetrical cyclobutane ring cleavage was detected, while in the ht isomers only symmetrical cleavage occurs; this explains the noticeable difference found in the thermal stability of the two polymer types.