Re. Drumright et al., CYCLOALKANE PERKETAL INITIATORS FOR STYRENE POLYMERIZATION .1. DECOMPOSITION CHEMISTRY OF 1,1-BIS(TERT-BUTYLPEROXY)CYCLOHEXANE, Macromolecules, 26(9), 1993, pp. 2246-2252
Perketals are extensively utilized as initiators for the commercial pr
oduction of polystyrene and yet the chemistry of their decomposition i
s not well understood. In this paper the decomposition chemistry of 1,
1-bis(tert-butylperoxy)cyclohexane is studied. GC-MS was utilized to d
etermine the structure of decomposition products and this information
used as evidence to determine the decomposition chemistry. The decompo
sition mechanism appears to involve several pathways. Special focus is
given to the pathway that yields radicals which could have a benefici
al impact upon polystyrene manufacture.