Polychloroprene degradation by a Photo-Fenton process

The influence of iron(III)-chloride-6-hydrate, FeCl3.6H(2)O on the photodegradation of polychloroprene under different conditions has been investigated. The effects of polymer concentration (C-p), temperature (T), and polychromatic light exposure (L) on polymer degradation were evaluated using a 2(3) factorial design. The photodegradation rate constant was determined through solution efflux time data in an Ubbelohde capillary viscometer and FTIR spectroscopy. Polychloroprene/FeCl3.6H(2)O photodegradation residues were investigated by GC-MS and FTIR spectroscopy. By efflux time data, it was verified that in contrast to C-P and light exposure, which play a significant role in polychloroprene degradation, temperature does not affect it. Degradation does not occur in the absence of light. Efflux time and FTIR data characterized the reaction as having second-order kinetics. Exposure of polychloroprene/FeCl3.6H(2)O solution to polychromatic light induces polymer structure changes, as observed by GC-MS and FTIR. After photodegradation, intense spectral changes in conjugated carbonyl and hydroxyl bands were observed by FTIR. One of the degradation products was characterized as acid chloride (C3H5ClO). Due to the influence of water and light on FeCl3 catalyses, the reaction was characterized as a Photo-Fenton process. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.