The mechanism function of CR's thermal decomposition is described by the Zhuralev–Lesokin–Tempelman equation. In air atmosphere, the pyrolysis reaction takes place to produce 2-aminodiphenyl ether, while the oxidizing reaction takes place to produce 10,11-dihydrodibenz[b,f][1,4]oxazepin-11-one.

As an excellent tear agent of the second generation, CS has been widely used in the police department of many countries. CS disperses the crowd depending on the aerosol in the air due to combustion and explosion. And at the same time, CS decomposes into a variety of products. With the use of TG/DSC-FITR and PY-GC/MS technologies, the CS decomposition performance has been studied. It has been found that CS begins to melt at 60℃, boiling near 310℃ and decompose between 450℃ to 550 ℃. There is a close relationship between thermal decomposition products and the temperature. At 550℃ and 650℃, 4 and 10 kinds of decomposition products will be produced respectively.