Thermal Stability of Fire Retardants: IV. Decomposition of Aryl Bromo Ethers Under Process Conditions

Thermal decomposition kinetics were determined for several brominated phenyl allyl ethers, for several brominated diphenyl oxides, and for several miscellaneous compounds used in the manufacture of fire retardant thermo plastics. The decompositions were carried out using bibenzyl as a model for the polystyrene system and at agent loadings of 10 wt.%. The diphenyl oxide deriv atives were stable at reaction temperature (234 ° C) having reaction rate con stants of < 5 x 10 ^-6 min ^-1 . The phenyl allyl ethers underwent rapid decomposi tions with rate constants of 3 to 4 x 10 ² min ¹ . The reaction of these ethers is primarily free radical in nature and generates radicals via the homolytic cleavage of the ether linkage.