Thermal and structural characterization of polypyrrole by direct-insertionprobe pyrolysis mass spectrometry

There have been extensive studies on structural characterization of conduct ing polypyrrole, PPY using various techniques. The two proposed structures are the aromatic form corresponding to the undoped state and the quinoid fo rm corresponding to the doped state. However, actual structure appears to b e more complicated and the relationship between the dopant used and the str ucture was not totally clarified. In this study direct insertion probe pyro lysis mass spectrometry technique was applied to monitor thermal decomposit ion products of polypyrrole which may further be used for structural elucid ation. Three different dopants namely, p-toluene sulfonate, tetrafluorobora te and dodecyl sulfate were used in the synthesis of polypyrrole to investi gate the effect of dopant on thermal stability and structure.