The influence of aluminum on the thermal stability of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) was investigated. HBCD pyrolysis was carried out using thermogravimetric analyzers and a laboratory scale reactor. The identification of decomposition products was based on FTIR and gas-chromatographic/mass-spectrometric techniques. The results obtained confirmed that the presence of aluminum caused a lower thermal stability of HBCD. However, the presence of aluminum also resulted in a significant increase of the char yield and caused the shift towards an exothermic decomposition process. The analysis of the decomposition products showed that the presence of aluminum triggers polycondensation reactions during HBCD thermal degradation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.