Thermal decomposition products of polymethylene

Abstract

Polymethylene was pyrolysed in a vacum at several temperatures ranging from 375 to 465 degrees C, and the decomposition products were analysed by gas chromatography. The results constitute further proof that the principal mechanisms involved in the production of volatile fractions are based on intramolecular radical transfer. They also suggest the occurrence of successive intramolecular radical transfers, for example, from the first carbon to the fifth, then to the ninth, thirteenth and so on.