Photosensitized Degradation of Poly(α-Chloroacrylonitrile) Under Oxygen

Abstract Poly(α-chloroacrylonitrile)(PCAN) degraded upon irradiation with a xenon lamp under oxygen in the presence of 9,10-dicyanoanthracene (DCA) and trans-stilbene (TS), and a similar degradation was observed for the reaction of the polymer with potassium superoxide (KO2). The IR spectra of the polymers recovered in both cases were almost the same. The mechanism of the photodegradation of PCAN was interpreted as follows: excited DCA accepts an electron from TS and the radical anion of DCA formed transfers an electron to oxygen, generating “superoxide anion (O2 −),” which reacts with PCAN to decompose the polymer.