SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC MASS-SPECTROMETRIC IDENTIFICATION OF DEGRADATION PRODUCTS FROM ENHANCED ENVIRONMENTALLY DEGRADABLE POLYETHYLENE
Ac. Albertsson et al., SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION AND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC MASS-SPECTROMETRIC IDENTIFICATION OF DEGRADATION PRODUCTS FROM ENHANCED ENVIRONMENTALLY DEGRADABLE POLYETHYLENE, Journal of chromatography, 690(2), 1995, pp. 207-217
A solid-phase extraction (SPE) method using unbonded silica (Si) and s
ilica bonded with octadecyl (C-18) or aminopropyl (NH2) groups was dev
eloped to separate into five fractions the highly complex mixture of l
ow-molecular-mass degradation products formed from degradable polymers
. Application of the method to polyethylene modified with starch and/o
r a pro-oxidant system, degraded for 30 weeks in water at 95 degrees C
, enabled the identification by GC-MS of over three times as many prod
ucts as when the sample was prepared by liquid-liquid extraction. Over
60 degradation products were identified in each sample; mainly dicarb
oxylic acids, monocarboxylic acids and n-alkanes. In addition, several
lactones, aldehydes and alcohols were detected.