Mass spectrometric study of the pyrolysis of perfluorinated compounds of composition C6F12-C9F20, containing perfluoroisopropyl groups

The primary and final products arising from the pyrolysis of perfluoro-2,4-dimethyl-3-ethylpentane, perfluoro-3-isopropyl-4-methyl-2-pentene, perfluoro-2-methyl-3-isopropyl-2-pentene, perfluoro-2,4-dimethyl-3-heptene, and perfluoro-4-methyl-2-pentene have been studied using low-energy mass spectrometry and chromatography-mass spectrometry. Thermal decomposition of hexafluoropropene oligomers, containing perfluoroisopropyl groups attached to a double bond, occurs via loss of a radical pair to form perfluorodienes, as well as via abstraction of a hexafluoropropene molecule from the iso-C₃F₇ group. A correlation between the principal fragmentation pathway observed under electron impact and the primary process in the main thermolysis pathway was detected only in the case of perfluoro-4-methyl-2-pentene and perfluoro-2,4-dimethyl-3-heptene, which are capable of cleavage of^.CF₃ and^.C₂F₅ radicals, respectively, to give a single possible allyl radical structure.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1037–1041, May, 1990.