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Degradation of poly(vinyl chloride) to small molecules
Author(s) -
Schwenk Ulrich,
Lömker Franz,
König Inge,
Streitberger Horst
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1979.070230602
Subject(s) - vinyl chloride , succinic acid , adipic acid , alkali metal , polymer chemistry , polymerization , polymer , degradation (telecommunications) , chemistry , chloride , molecule , glutaric acid , organic chemistry , materials science , copolymer , telecommunications , computer science
By treatment with alkali in 2‐methoxyethanol, poly(vinyl chloride) is converted to an insoluble network structure. On subsequent oxidation with 65% HNO 3 , a water‐soluble mixture of acids is obtained. Per 1000 carbon atoms of the original polymer chain, approximately 4 moles succinic acid, 2 moles glutaric acid, and 1 mole adipic acid are found. In spite of the fact that the occurrence of succinic acid is in the same order as tail‐to‐tail polymerization in PVC, it must be assumed that unexpected aggregation of more than two CH 2 groups is due to rearrangement during the alkali treatment or the oxidation procedure.