Analytical Pyrolysis of Natural Organic Polymers

Part 1: An Introduction to Analytical Pyrolysis. 1. Introduction and Nomenclature. Pyrolysis as a chemical process. The scope of analytical pyrolysis. Analytical pyrolysis applied to natural organic polymers. 2. The Chemistry of the Pyrolytic Process. General remarks. Elimination reactions in pyrolysis. Rearrangements taking place in pyrolysis. Oxidations and reductions taking place in pyrolysis. Substitutions and additions taking place in pyrolysis. Typical polymer degradations during pyrolysis. Pyrolysis in the presence of additional reactants or with catalysts. 3. Physico-Chemical Aspects of the Pyrolytic Process. Thermodynamic factors in pyrolytic chemical reactions. Kinetic factors in pyrolytic chemical reactions. Models attempting to describe the kinetics of the pyrolytic processes of solid samples. Pyrolysis kinetics for uniform repetitive polymers. Pyrolytic processes compared with combustion. Pyrolysis process compared to ion fragmentation in mass spectrometry. Theoretical approaches for chemical pyrolytic reactions. 4. Instrumentation Used for Pyrolysis. The temperature control of the pyrolytic process. Curie point pyrolysers. Resistively heated filament pyrolysers. Furnace pyrolysers. Radiative heating (laser) pyrolysers. Other pyrolyser types. Comparison of analytical performances of different pyrolyser types. 5. Analytical Techniques Used with Pyrolysis. The selection of the analytical techniques and the transfer of the pyrolysate to the analytical instrument. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC). Mass spectrometers as detectors in pyrolysis-gas chromatography. Pyrolysis-mass spectrometric (Py-MS) techniques. Data interpretation in pyrolysis - mass spectrometry (Py-MS). Infrared spectroscopy (IR) used as a detecting technique for pyrolysis. Other analytical techniques in pyrolysis. Part 2: Analytical Pyrolysis of Organic Biopolymers. 6. Analytical pyrolysis of polyterpenes. Natural rubber. Vulcanized rubber. Other polyterpenes. 7. Analytical Pyrolysis of Polymeric Carbohydrates. Monosaccharides, polysaccharides and general aspects of their pyrolysis. Cellulose. Chemically modified celluloses. Amylose and amylopectin. Pectins. Gums and mucilages. Hemicelluloses and other plant polysaccharides. Algal polysaccharides. Microbial polysaccharides. Lipolysaccharides from the cell surface of bacteria. Fungal polysaccharides. Glycogen. Chitin. Proteoglycans. 8. Analytical Pyrolysis of Polymeric Materials with Lipid Moieties. Classification of complex lipids and analytical pyrolysis of simple lipids. Complex lipids. 9. Analytical Pyrolysis of Lignins. Lignin. Lignocellulosic materials. Chemically modified lignins. 10. Analytical Pyrolysis of Polymeric Tannins. Polymeric tannins. 11. Analytical Pyrolysis of Caramel Colors and of Maillard Browning Polymers. Pyrolysis of caramel colors. Sugar-ammonia and sugar-amines browning polymers. Sugar-amino acid browning polymers. 12. Analytical Pyrolysis of Proteins.