Pyrolytic alkylation gas chromatography mass spectrometry of model polymers - Further insights into the mechanism and scope of the technique

The mechanism of the high-temperature hydrolysis and alkylation with tetraalkylammonium hydroxides of bio- and geopolymers has been approached mainly by studying the behaviour of single standard compounds. In the present work, we have applied this technique to three polymers of known structure, i.e. suberin, polycitraconic acid (PCA) and a lignin dehydrogenase polymer (DHP), related respectively to natural polyesters, fulvic acids and lignins, in order to get new insight into the reaction mechanism. As further application of the technique, the case study of the lignin signature during the coalification process has been analyzed by pyrolysis-butylation of humic acids extracted from two pear and lignite samples.