Measuring oxygen permeabilities of polymer films by a new singlet oxygen technique

A new sensitive method is described for measuring the permeation and diffusion of oxygen through polymer films. For these measurements an ethyl cellulose film containing 9,10‐dimethylanthracene (DMA) and erythrosin may be either tightly sealed between two pieces of sample film in a simple cell or sealed in a pouch made from the test material, and is used to absorb oxygen which has passed through the polymer film sample from the air. On illumination this oxygen is converted by the erythrosin to singlet oxygen which then reacts with the DMA. After an initial scavenging period, the rate of permeation of oxygen under the atmospheric pressure gradient across the film is monitored by determining the rate of disappearance of DMA spectrophotometrically.