Thesis--Ph. D., University of Hong Kong, 1984.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Akron, Dept. of Chemistry, 2006. / "December, 2006." Title from electronic dissertation title page (viewed 04/24/2008). Advisor, Chrys Wesdemiotis; Committee members, Matthew P. Espe, Jun Hu, Wiley J. Youngs, Frank W. Harris; Department Chair, Kim C. Calvo; Dean of the College, Ronald F. Levant; Dean of the Graduate School, George R. Newkome. Includes bibliographical references.

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THE CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME METHACRYLATE AND ACRYLATE HOMOPOLYMERS, COPOLYMERS AND FIBERS VIA DIRECT PYROLYSIS MASS SPECTROSCOPY &Ouml / zlem G&uuml / ndogdu, Suriye Ph.D., Department of Polymer Science and Technology Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jale Hacaloglu December 2012, 177 pages Poly(methyl methacrylate) possesses many desirable properties and is used in various areas. However, the relatively low glass transition temperature limits its applications in textile and optical-electronic industries. Monomers containing isobornyl, benzyl and butyl groups as the side chain are chosen to copolymerize with MMA to increase Tg and to obtain fibers with PMMA. In this work, thermal degradation characteristics, degradation products and mechanisms of methacrylate homopolymers, poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(butyl methacrylate), poly(isobornyl methacrylate) and poly(benzyl methacrylate), acrylate homopolymers, poly(n-butyl acrylate), poly(t-butyl acrylate), poly(isobornyl acrylate), two, three and four component copolymers of MMA and fibers are analyzed via direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry. The effects of substituents on the main and side chains, the components present in the copolymers and fiber formation on thermal stability, degradation characteristics and degradation mechanisms are investigated. According to the results obtained, the depolymerization mechanism yielding mainly the monomer is the main thermal decomposition route for the methacrylate polymers, acrylate polymers degradation occurs by H-transfer reactions from the main chain to the carbonyl groups. However, when the alkoxy group involves

Although, several researches on synthesis and characterization of benzoxazines and polybenzoxazines have appeared in the literature, detailed studies on thermal characterization are still limited. In this study, polymerization and thermal degradation mechanisms of benzoxazines were investigated via direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry. Benzoxazine monomers prepared by reactions of phenol or bisphenol- A with aniline or methyl amine were analyzed to investigate the effects of the structures of phenyl and amine groups on both polymerization and thermal degradation behaviours. It has been proposed in the literature that polymerization of benzoxazines occurs by ring opening polymerization of oxazine ring / cleavage of O-CH2 bond of the oxazine ring and attack of n-CH2 group to phenol or bisphenol-A ring. However, the direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry analyses of polymerization and thermal degradation of benzoxazines pointed out that after the cleavage of O-CH2 bond of the oxazine ring, polymerization proceeded through opposing pathways. Strong evidences confirming coupling of (CH3)NCH2 or (C6H5)NCH2 groups yielding dimers involving diamine linkages were detected. Polymerization of the dimer by the reactions with the corresponding monomers was proposed. In case of benzoxazines based on bisphenol-A, the results indicated polymerization of the dimer ii by coupling of both of the oxazine rings. On the other hand, polymerization of the dimer through the ethylene units (vinyl polymerization) in case of benzoxazine monomer based on phenol and methyl amine was also noted. For polybenzoxazines based on aniline another polymerization pathway involved attack of radicals generated by cleavage of the oxazine ring to aniline ring. Multi-step thermal decomposition was observed for all the polybenzoxazines under investigation confirming the presence of units with different structures and stabilities.

In the first part of this work, the structural and thermal characteristics of polyacrylonitrile, polyacrylonitrile films treated under the electrolysis conditions in the absence of thiophene, polythiophene and the mechanical mixture and a conducting copolymer of polyacrylonitrile/polythiophene have been studied by pyrolysis mass spectrometry technique. The thermal degradation of polyacrylonitrile occurs in three steps / evolution of HCN, monomer, low molecular weight oligomers due to random chain cleavages are followed by cyclization and dehydrogenation reactions yielding crosslinked and unsaturated segments. Pyrolysis of the treated polyacrylonitrile films indicated decrease in the yields of monomer and oligomers, and increase in the amount of products stabilized by cyclization reactions were detected. Polythiophene degrades in two steps / the loss of the dopant and degradation of polymer backbone. The evolution profiles of polythiophene based products from polythiophene/polyacrylonitrile showed nearly identical trends with those recorded during the pyrolysis of pure polythiophene. However, evolution of HCN and the degradation products due to the homolytic cleavages of the polymer backbone continued through out the pyrolysis indicating a significant increase in their production. Furthermore, the yield of thermal degradation products associated with decomposition of the unsaturated cyclic imine segments decreased. A careful analysis of the data pointed out presence of mixed dimers confirming copolymer formation. In the second part of this work, a poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene) sample involving monomer units having quite similar molecular weights have been analyzed to investigate the limits of the pyrolysis mass spectrometry technique. Pyrolysis of aged poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene) indicated oxidative degradation of the sample. Keywords: conducting copolymer, polyacrylonitrile, polythiophene, polybutadiene, direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry

In the first part of this study, the structtural and thermal characterization of electrochemically and chemically polymerized poly(paraphenylene vinylene), (PPV), have been investigated by direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry. Thermal characteristics, and degradation products of electrochemically prepared poly(paraphenylene vinylene). Pyrolysis study indicated that thermal decomposition of PPV occurs at least two steps. The first being due to the loss of supporting electrolyte present and the second being decomposition of the polymer backbone.In the second part of the study, direct insertion probe pyrolysis mass spectrometry (DIP-MS) technique was used to perform the thermal and the structural characterization of electrochemically synthesized polyaniline,PANI. The effect of dopant used (HCL, HNO3 and H2SO4) and synthesis period have been investigated. For all the samples studied, three main thermall degradation stages have been recorded / evolution of low molecular weight species, evolution of dopant based products and evolution of degradation products of polymer.

This thesis describes recent progress in electrochemical preparation of several conducting polymers. In particular, the synthesis and characterizations of pure polyaniline, pure polypyrrole, polyaniline/polypyrrole and polypyrrole/polyaniline copolymers and polyaniline-polypyrrole physical blends were studied. The focus has included firstly synthesis of these electrically conductive polymers. Secondly, thermal characteristics of electrochemically synthesized homopoly- mers, copolymers and their physical blends were investigated by thermal gravi- metric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and direct pyrol- ysis mass spectrometry (DIP-MS) techniques. In general, TGA analysis showed three-step thermal degradation. The first, at 100oC, was attributed to water, and unreacted monomers. The second weight losses observed at around 150 oC was because of evolution of water and/or acid. Finally, the removal of the dopant ion and low molecular weight species from the matrix were observed for pure PANI and pure PPy at 230 and 280 oC, respectively. PANI/PPy films and PPy/PANI films have decomposition temperatures at 272oC because of the loss of the dopant ion. It was also observed that pure PPy was thermally more resistant than pure PANI. Thirdly, thermal characteristics, and degradation products of electrochemi- cally prepared PANI/PPy and PPy/PANI films in solutions containing variable dopant (SO42&amp / #8722 / ) concentrations were analyzed and compared with pyrolysis mass spectrometry. Similar to TGA study, there were three main thermal degradation steps namely, evolution of low molecular weight species, dopant based products and degradation products of polymers. The dopant concentration was monitored to optimize the degradation behavior. Pyrolysis mass spectrometry data showed that the degree of degradation of the polymer already coated on the electrode enhanced as the dopant concentration used in synthesis increased.

In this study, polymerization mechanisms of aromatic (C6H5 or C6F5) and alkyl (CH3, C2H5, C3H7, C6H13, C12H25 or C18H37) amine based naphthoxazine monomers (15-Na, 15Na-C1, 15Na-C2, 15Na-C3, 15Na-C6, 15Na-C12 and 15Na-C18) and thermal degradation mechanisms of polynaphthoxazines synthesized by curing the naphthoxazine monomers (P-15-Na, P-15NaF, P-15Na-C1, P-15Na-C2, P-15Na-C3, P-15Na-C6, P-15Na-C12 and P-15Na-C18) were studied by direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry. During the curing process, the evolutions of monomer and low mass aromatic or alkyl amines were detected below the curing temperature. The mass spectrometry findings indicated that the monomers were subjected to evaporation and degradation to a certain extent but also to polymerization during the curing process. It has been determined that the polymerization of aromatic amine based naphthoxazine monomer proceeded through the aniline units, either by coupling of the radicals produced by the ring opening of the side chains or by substitution to the benzene ring of aniline. However, even if no direct evidence to confirm polymerization by attack of &ndash / NCH2 groups to naphthalene ring was detected, it is not possible totally eliminate its existence. The evolution of aniline, the main thermal degradation product for this polymer was observed at relatively low temperatures indicating that thermal decomposition started by elimination of aromatic amine involving linkages. Coupling of &ndash / CH2 groups generated by loss of aniline, yielded naphthoxazines with unsaturated linkages that can recombine and form a crosslinked structure with higher thermal stability. Similarly, the polymerization of naphthoxazines based on alkyl amines followed opposing paths. The mass spectral data indicated that the coupling of alkyl amine radicals was the main polymerization pathway. Again, thermal decomposition of alkyl amine based naphthoxazines was started by loss of alkyl amines and diamines. The crosslinked structures produced by coupling of the radicals generated by lose of alkyl amines decomposed at relatively high temperatures.

Although, the use of vinyl pyridine polymers, especially as matrices for nanoparticle synthesis, is growing considerably, the knowledge of thermal degradation behavior is still missing in the literature. In this study, thermal degradation characteristics of the homopolymers / poly(4-vinylpyridine), P4VP, and poly(2-vinylpyridine), P2VP, the diblock copolymers / polystyrene-blockpoly( 2-vinylpyridine), (PS-b-P2VP) and polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine), (PS-b-P4VP), and the metal functional vinyl polymers / cobalt-polystyrene-blockpoly( 2-vinylpyridine) and cobalt-polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) were investigated by direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry. The effects of the position of the nitrogen in the pyridine ring, composition and molecular weight of diblock copolymer and coordination of the metal to the pyridine ring of the copolymer on thermal behavior were also investigated. The results showed that unlike most of the vinyl polymers that decompose via depolymerization, P2VP degrades through opposing reaction pathways / depolymerization, proton transfer to N atom in the pyridine ring yielding unsaturated linkages on the polymer backbone that decompose slightly at higher temperatures and loss of pyridine units. On the other hand the thermally less stable P4VP decomposition follows v depolymerization in accordance to general expectations. Another finding was the independent decomposition of both components of the diblock polymers, (PS-b- P2VP) and (PS-b-P4VP). Thermal degradation occurs in two main steps, the thermally less stable P2VP or P4VP chains degrade in the first step and in the second step decomposition of PS takes place. It was also concluded that upon coordination of metal, thermal stability of both P2VP and P4VP increases significantly. For metal functional diblock copolymers thermal degradation of chains coordinated to Co metal through N in the pyridine ring occurred in three steps / cleavage of pyridine coordinated to Co, coupling and H-transfer reactions yielding unsaturated and/or crosslinked structure and decomposition of these thermally more stable unsaturated and/or crosslinked blocks. TEM imaging of the metal functional block copolymers along with the results of the pyrolysis mass spectrometry pointed out that PS-b-P2VP polymer is a better and more effective matrix for nanoparticle synthesis.