CHARACTERIZATION OF ELECTRON-BEAM GENERATED TRANSFORMATION PRODUCTS OF IRGANOX-1010 BY PARTICLE-BEAM LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY WITH ONLINE DIODE-ARRAY DETECTION

Transformation products of Irganox 1010 [pentaerythritol tetrakis-3-(3 ,5-di-tert.-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate], in food contact polyme rs subjected to electron beam irradiation have been analysed by partic le beam LC-MS with on-line UV diode array detection. It has been shown that the principal transformation products arise via loss of sub-unit s of the parent molecule, and the subsequent transformation of these s ub-units. A total of 56 transformation products has been detected, for some of which structures are proposed. These results are compared to previous work on Irganox 1330 ris(3',5'-di-tert.-butyl-4-hydroxybenzyl )benzene], where transformations to yield p-quinone methide type struc tures were shown to occur.