Thermal oxidation of deuterated polypropylenes

This paper describes some of the aspects of the thermal oxidation of deuterated isotactic polypropylenes. Several polymers of propylene, deuterated at different sites along the polymer chain, were subjected to a kinetic treatment designed to establish the comparative rates of oxidation at different temperatures. Infrared spectroscopy was used to follow the kinetics over the temperature interval 100–130°C. These experiments have shown the existence of a deuterium isotope effect for the thermal oxidation of polypropylene.