Solvent effect on thermal degradation of polystyrene and poly-α-methylstyrene

Volume II: near-field and altered-zone environment report

“…The decrease in solvent concentration brought a rise in the conversion and the tendency was significant in good hydrogen donor solvents. These results were explained through hydrogen abstraction processes from the solvents by the polymer radicals (Murakata et al, 1993)." Specifically, "the conversion of PS to low 6-41 molecular weight products [is]dependent on the hydrogen donating ability of the solvents used: Solvents with greater donating ability [result] is less conversion of PS (SatOet al, 1990).…”

Mechanistic analysis and thermochemical kinetic simulation of the products from pyrolysis of poly(α-methylstyrene), especially the unrecognized role of phenyl shift

“…Sato and coworkers [16] reported that x after 1 h at 275 8C for 10% solutions was essentially independent of the solvent across a range of hydrogen donor abilities from decalin to 9,10-dihydroanthracene and phenol, and they concluded that UZ predominated with no significant transfer from solvent (or polymer). Again this highlights an uncertainty about the role of R p which should have abstracted hydrogen effectively from most of these solvents.…”

Effects of hydrogen-donating solvents on the thermal degradation of HDPE

“…These authors observed that the lowest conversions of polystyrene were obtained using solvents with a high hydrogen donor capability such as 9,10-dihydroanthracene or tetralin. The degradations of polystyrene and poly-a-methylstyrene were studied by Murakata et al [20,21] using various types of hydrogen donor solvents in the temperature range from 250 to 450 8C. They found that the conversion of polystyrene to low molecular weight products depended on the type of solvents and the solvent concentration, whereas the conversion of poly-a-methylstyrene was independent of both of these.…”