Thermal degradation of polymers: Part XXV—Synthesis, polymerisation and thermal characterisation of m-acetamidostyrene and m-acetoxystyrene homopolymers

m-Acetoxystyrene and m-acetamidostyrene have been synthesised and homopolymerised using 2,2′-azoisobutyronitrile as free radical initiator. The resulting polymers have been characterised by a variety of methods including thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Glass transition temperatures have been measured for samples of different molecular weight.

TG and DSC have been used to compare the degradation behaviour of poly(m-acetoxystyrene) and poly(m-acetamidostyrene) with polystyrene in air and nitrogen atmospheres.