Oxidative Metamorphosis of Poly(Styrenedisulfide) Backbone

Abstract

This is the first report on the oxidation of a disulfide polymer, viz., poly(styrenedisulfide) (PSD). Oxidation was performed using KMnO 4 and KHSO4, which are strong and mild oxidizing agents, respectively. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and intrinsic viscosity ([η]) measurements revealed that degradation of PSD occurs to some extent during oxidation when KMnO4 was used. Further, FT-IR and [η] results indicated that the oxidation of PSD using KMnO4 is better in heterogeneous conditions than under phase-transfer medium because the degradation was curtailed in the former case. Direct pyrolysis-mass spectrometry (DP-MS), Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (FABMS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) analyses of the oxidized PSD was carried out and the obtained results corroborate well with the FT-IR and [η] studies. Increased rigidity of the oxidized polymers which is reflected in their T g and [η] values, compared to PSD, was further confirmed by the radius of gyration (Rg) and trans percentage data calculated from the molecular dynamics simulations studies.

Investigation of polymer‐based composites by laser desorption/ionization study of their photo‐oxidative aging

“…To study aged and unaged polymer materials or polymer-based composites, chemical methods are used to obtain averaged information. 2,5,7,10,[12][13][14][15][16][17][19][20][21][22][23]25,26,29,30,[32][33][34][35] Access to molecular information, however, requires the use of mass spectrometry (MS).…”

“…Mass spectrometry, 4,9,34,36,37 and especially laser desorption/ ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS), 2,4,12,37 have been extensively used. More specifically, LDI-MS allows a solid sample to be characterized without need of a solubilization step.…”