Analytical Pyrolysis Applied to Natural Organic Polymers

3 Analytical Pyrolysis Applied to Natural Organic Polymers. 

The usefulness of analytical pyrolysis in polymer characterization, identification, or quantitation has long been demonstrated. The first application of analytical pyrolysis can be considered the discovery in 1860 of the structure of natural rubber as being polyisoprene [10]. This was done by the identification of isoprene as the main pyrolysis product of rubber. Natural organic polymers and their composite materials such as wood, peat, soils, bacteria, animal cells, etc. are good candidates for analysis using a pyrolytic step. 

In principle, there is no difference between the analytical pyrolysis of natural organic polymers and that of other samples. Although the basics are the same, there are 

The first part of this book, dedicated to the description of the analytical pyrolysis methodology, will not be specific to natural organic polymers. The second and the third part, however, will cover only applications specific to natural organic polymers, chemically modified natural organic polymers, and their composite materials. 

The Pyrolysis of Carbon Compounds, A.C.S. monograph series. The Chemical Catalog Co., New York, 1929. 

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