Synthesis of a novel sulfur-bearing secondary antioxidant with a high molecular weight and its comparative study on antioxidant behavior in polypropylene with two commercial sulfur-bearing secondary antioxidants having relatively low molecular weight

A novel sulfur-bearing secondary antioxidant with a high molecular weight of 2252 (OS-POSS), successfully synthesized via photoinitiated thiol-ene click reaction, was compared with two commercial sulfur-bearing secondary antioxidants on the stabilization of polypropylene (PP). The results of their oxidation induction time (OIT) via differential scanning calorimeter measurement (DSC) showed that the higher the molecular weight of secondary antioxidant is, the longer the OIT value, whether such sulfur-bearing antioxidant is used singly or in combination with primary antioxidant. The study of their long-term accelerated thermal aging in the air oven at 150 °C displayed that the molecular structure of sulfur-bearing secondary antioxidant, besides molecular weight, is another highly important factor determining the antioxidant efficiency, i.e., physical loss of antioxidants with the relatively low molecular weight may determine antioxidant efficiency, whereas thioether groups having neighboring ester carbonyl moieties may decompose more hydroperoxides with quicker rate.