Thermal Degradation Studies of Terpolymer Derived from 2-Aminothiophenol, Hexamethylenediamine, and Formaldehyde

Terpolymer (2-ATPHMDAF-I) has been synthesized by the condensation of 2-aminothiophenol and hexamethylenediamine with formaldehyde in the presence of 2 M hydrochloric acid as a catalyst with 1 : 1 : 2 molar proportion of reacting monomers. The structure of newly synthesized terpolymer has been elucidated and confirmed on the basis of elemental analysis and various spectral techniques, that is, UV-visible, FT-IR, and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Number average molecular weight (Mn¯) has been determined by conductometric titration in nonaqueous medium. The viscosity measurements in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) have been carried out to ascertain the characteristic functions and constants. The studies have been further extended to nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis for determination of their mode of decomposition and relative thermal stability. Activation energy Ea, order of reaction (n), and frequency factor (z) were calculated by Friedman, Chang, Sharp-Wentworth and Freeman-Carroll methods. Activation energy calculated by Friedman and Chang methods are in close agreement with each other while the results obtained from Freeman-Carroll and Sharp-Wentworth’s methods are found to be in a similar order