General Overview of Polymer Photodegradation

This review presents an overview of the mechanistic aspects of polymer photodegradation, with a primary emphasis on a special class of photodegradable polymer that has metal-metal bonds along the polymer backbones. Throughout the review, the major emphasis is on degradation pathways and the parameters that control the rates of degradation. 

In the absence of an intentionally added chromophore, most polymers photochemically degrade by the so-called photo-oxidative mechanism. Practically 

Various radical-radical coupling or disproporationation reactions 

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