Electrochemical reductive breakdown of solid-phase chlorinated rubber in aprotic and aqueous media

A study has been made of the electrochemical reductive breakdown (ECRB) of solid-phase chlorinated butyl rubber (CBR). It has been established that CBR does not accept electrons under conditions of fast sweep of electrode potential; however, with prolonged cathodic polarization of the substrate at the polymer/cathode/solution three-phase boundary, it undergoes reduction and subsequent chemical conversion, including intermolecular cross-linking and breakdown of the macromolecules. The rate of ECRB of the CBR depends on the potential and materials of the cathode, and also on the nature of the solvent. In a aprotic medium, the process of CBR breakdown leads to the formation of long polyconjugated structures that color its surface black in the vicinity of the three-phase boundary. In an aqueous medium, no such color is observed, but the products of ECRB are found to contain conjugated double bonds with a shorter conjugation chain than in the case of the aprotic medium. It has been established that he starting reaction in ECRB of CBR is reduction of the C-Cl bond and subsequent elimination of Cl^–.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 710–715, November–December, 1989.