PYROLYSIS OF POLYACETYLENE

In the reported experiments, thermal degradation of polyacetylene has been studied by pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (PGC EN DASH MS). The most abundant product is benzene, but significant quantities of other products are also produced. In decreasing order of yield, these are methane, ethylene, propylene, ethane, butadiene, toluene, and xylenes. A simple mechanism capable of accounting for most of the observed products is random chain scission followed by electron EN DASH proton exchanges and in some cases ring closure. The total material balance between proton-rich and proton-depleted products is within 10%.