GC-MS studies on degradation of copper phthalocyanine sheet polymer

Synthetic metal phthalocyanine sheet polymer of copper showed exceptional thermal stability with maximum polymer decomposition temperature (PDTmax) 525 °C in air and 760 °C in nitrogen with char yield 91% at 800 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. Because of its excellent thermal stability, MS and GC-MS studies found to be very difficult. The present work deals with GC-MS studies on this copper phthalocyanine sheet polymer at various temperatures in the range 500-1000 °C. Tentative mechanisms for its modes of fragmentation are proposed and most probable degradation products are identified based on GC-MS studies.