Investigation of the chemical changes during thermal treatment of polyacrylonitrile and 15N-labelled polyacrylonitrile by means of in-situ FTIR and 15N NMR spectroscopy

The thermal decomposition of PAN homopolymer and 15N-labelled PAN homopolymer under inert atmosphere was investigated in detail using IR spectroscopy, STA analysis including the volatiles formed, Solid State NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations. Additionally model compounds were synthesized and examined to support or decline hypotheses about the known as well as new proposed reaction pathways.187