Thermal stability of a C-60-polystyrene bond

Pure hexa-adducts (PS)(6)C-60 can be prepared by addition of PS-Li onto ful lerene C-60. These model polymer stars offer an opportunity to study the th ermal stability of the bond between the fullerene and a grafted chain simpl y by SEC. At temperatures around 100 degreesC, the hexa-adduct is slowly co nverted into adducts of lower functionality and ungrafted chains. The exper imental results are coherent with a step by step mechanism where the 6-arm stars are converted to 5-arm stars, then these latter to 4-arm stars and so on; the kinetics constant decreasing if the functionality of the stars dec reases. The thermal stability decreases if the length of the grafts increas es.