Abstract
Four major phenolic compounds, o-cresol, 2, 6-xylenol, 2, 4-xylenol and 2, 4, 6-trimethyl-phenol were obtained as monomeric scission products from thermal degradation of poly (oxy-2, 6-dimethyl-1, 4-phenylene) (polyphenylene ether or PPE) in an inert atmosphere. The dimeric scission products were more complicated than the monomeric products. The quantitative analysis of both scission products were took into accounts so as to elucidate the degradation mechanism. The chemical structures of the scission products suggested that the ether bridges on the main chain are partially converted to methylene bridge to form C-C bonds prior to the thermal degradation. The composition can be explained by the cleavage of the C-C bonds in almost equal probability. The structure of the aged polymer is much more relevant to the thermal degradation mechanism than that of the polymer just after prepared in the case of the thermal degradation of PPE.
