Reaction of poly(vinyl chloride) with electrogenerated superoxide anion

✍ Scribed by Osawa, Zenjiro ;Uchida, Yoshihito

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Weight: 385 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0360-6376
• DOI: 10.1002/pol.1982.170200828

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Reaction of poly(vinyl chloride) (FVC) with electrogenerated superoxide anion was carried out in a mixed solvent of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and dimethylformamide (DMF), mostly at 40°C, under a nitrogen stream. The results obtained were compared with those in an earlier article,^1^ in which the use of potassium superoxide was described. Reaction of PVC with electrogenerated superoxide anion took place easily and the yield and molecular weight of the recovered polymer decreased appreciably. Functional groups formed in PVC treated with electrogenerated superoxide anion were similar to those in PVC treated with potassium superoxide; that is, hydroxy (ca. 3400 cm^−1^), conjugated carbonyl groups (ca. 1675 cm^−1^), and polyene structures (ca. 1600 cm^−1^) were observed. In addition, a new peak, probably due to nonconjugated aldehyde groups, was observed at 1725 cm^−1^. Ultraviolet (UV) spectra of PVC treated with electrogenerated superoxide anion showed that the polyene sequences formed in the polymer were shorter than octaene and that the octaene and that the octaene was formed only in the reaction at 60°C.