Thermal Degradation and Identification of Heat-Sensitive Polymers. Applications of Pyrolysis and Distillation and Instrumental Methods of Analysis

An experiment for undergraduate teaching laboratories is described that involves the identification of samples of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate). This involves the thermal degradation of the polymers (a destructive distillation) into their respective monomers. The monomers are then identi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of chemical education Vol. 82; no. 9; p. 1378
Main Authors Clough, Stuart C, Goldman, Emma W
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Easton Division of Chemical Education 01.09.2005
American Chemical Society
Subjects
Curricula
Depolymerization
Distillation
Experiments
Organic chemistry
Polymers
Pyrolysis
Science education
Thermal degradation
Thermal energy
Nonmajor Courses
Inquiry-Based / Discovery Learning
Laboratory Instruction
First-Year Undergraduate / General
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Summary:An experiment for undergraduate teaching laboratories is described that involves the identification of samples of polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate). This involves the thermal degradation of the polymers (a destructive distillation) into their respective monomers. The monomers are then identified using infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/ed082p1378