Degradation of polyvinylidene chloride in solution. Part 2.—A conductivity study in the hexamethylphosphoramide + tetramethylene sulphoxide system

Abstract

The degradation of polyvinylidene chloride has been studied by measuring the conductivity of the HCl produced in hexamethylphosphoramide, tetramethylene sulphoxide and a mixture of these two solvents. The reaction may be considered to be a zero-order reaction which produces an activated species followed by a second-order reaction in which the activated species is conserved. The effect of the solvent is postulated to be entirely stereochemical since the entropy, but not the enthalpy, of activation increases as the solvent strength increases.