Thermal degradation of alternating styrene-carbon monoxide copolymers

Thermal degradation of alternating carbon monoxide-styrene (Sty/CO) and -4-t-butylstrene (t-BuSty/CO) copolymers, which were prepared by a palladium catalyst, was studied by TGA and Py-GC/MS under different conditions, by varying pyrolysis temperature (450-600°C), sample size, heating rate of TGA, and time of flash pyrolysis (10-30 s). The main degradation products of Sty/CO in the order of abundance were styrene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and carbon monoxide. Those of t-BuSty/CO were their t-butyl derivatives. The kinetic analysis of the TGA curves gave 156 and 182 kJ mol-1 as the activation energies of Sty/CO and t-BuSty/CO, respectively.