The thermal degradation of poly(ethylene oxide) and its complex with NaCNS

✍ Scribed by G. Gordon Cameron; Malcolm D. Ingram; M. Younus Qureshi; Helen M. Gearing; Luigi Costa; Giovanni Camino

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 358 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-3057
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-3057(89)90044-x

✦ Synopsis

Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) of molecular weight (Mw) ca 5 x 106 and its complex with NaCNS have been thermally degraded at temperatures in the range 320-330 ° . Examination of the polymeric residues shows that in both cases there is a precipitous decrease in M, during degradation consistent with a random scission reaction, the complex decomposing much faster than the pure PEO. The products of complete degradation up to 500 ° can also be accounted for in terms of a radical reaction initiated by random scission of backbone bonds. The salt appears to participate in the degradation as evidenced by the general decrease in stability and by the appearance of HCN and relatively large amounts of ethylene and of CO 2 in the pyrolysis products from the PEO-NaCNS complex. A complex of PEO and LiC104 ([EO]/[Li] = 8) was much less stable thermally than either the pure PEO or the thiocyanate complex.