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

Stuart C. Clough, Emma W. Goldman

• 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.