THE THERMAL-DEGRADATION OF POLY(DI-N-HEXYL ITACONATE) PREPARED IN THEPRESENCE OF N-DODECYL MERCAPTAN

The preparation of poly(di-n-hexyl itaconate) (PDHI) in the presence o f the chain transfer agent n-dodecyl mercaptan resulted in polymers of increased thermal stability, owing to the suppression of the number o f chain terminal double bonds. The polymers were characterised by Four ier transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography . The differential thermogravimetry (DTG) curves of all the PDHI sampl es had two peaks, showing that degradation occurred in two stages. The area of the lower-temperature DTG peak correlated with the number of terminal double bonds