Thermal stability of ferrocene derivatives and ferrocene-containing polyamides

Thermogravimetric data and the kinetic interpretation of the curves of mass loss for ferrocene, ferrocenecarboxylic and ferrocenedicarboxylic acids and a series of ferrocene-containing polyamides are presented. The results indicate that the degradation process occurred with more than one stage of thermal degradation. The apparent activation energy values and the FTIR spectra of the degradation products suggest that the degradation mechanism occurred by either scission of weak links or by random scission of the chain. Apparently, the N-vicinal methylene group was the primary site of attack of oxygen on the polymer chain. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.