The hydrolysis mechanism of bis(2,4-di-tert-butyl)pentaerythritol diphosphite (Alkanox P24): An atmospheric pressure photoionisation mass spectrometric study

Alkanox P24 is a commercial phosphite antioxidant, well known in the literature for its excellent processing stability. As in the case of many processing phosphites, however, Alkanox P24 might undergo hydrolysis when exposed to small amounts of water. A number of products proposed recently in the hydrolytic pathway of the phosphite [Ortuoste N, Allen NS, Papanastasiou M, McMahon A, Edge M, Johnson B, et al. Polym Degrad Stab; 2006;91:195-211] are investigated in this study by atmospheric pressure ionisation-mass spectrometry (API-MS). The applicability of atmospheric pressure photoionisation (APPI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) ion sources is tested and the ion formation characteristics of Alkanox P24 are compared in both sources. In positive ion mode, ionisation of the parent phosphite occurred by protonation. In negative ion mode no pseudo-molecular ion peak was detected and the deprotonated species were more dominant in APPI. This source was employed further for the investigation of the hydrolysis products, since it exhibited lower limits of detection. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with single ion monitoring (SIM) detection was used for the separation of the species formed. Hydrolysis of the phosphite proceeded via the scission of the two P-Ophenol bonds exclusively to give 2,4-di-tert-butyl phenol quantitatively as a final product.