The rates of polymer photodegradation are dependent on the molecular weight of the polymer, the morphology of the polymer, the intensity and wavelength of the light, the temperature, the chromophore concentration within the polymer, the stresses on the polymer sample, and on a host of other environmental and molecular parameters.  As such, mechanistic studies of how and why these parameters affect photodegradation rates can be difficult to interpret.  To facilitate our mechanistic studies of polymer photodegradation, we synthesize and study polymers with metal-metal bonds along their backbones.  These polymers are photochemically reactive, and the relative simplicity of their degradation reactions allows insights into how the parameters listed above affect degradation rates.  This talk will specifically report on how temperature, oxygen diffusion rates, and polymer morphology affect the degradation rates of polymers with metal-metal bonds along their backbones.  The implications of these results for the degradation of commodity polymers and plastics will then be discussed.

Insights into polymer photochemical degradation from the study of metal-containing polymers

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.