Chemical reaction that results in the breaking of main-chain bonds of a
polymer molecule.
Note:
Some main-chain scissions are classified according to the mechanism of the scission
process: hydrolytic, mechano-chemical, thermal, photo-chemical, or oxidative scission.
Others are classified according to their location in the
backbone relative to a specific structural feature, for example, α-scission (a scission of
the C–C bond alpha to the carbon atom of a photo-excited carbonyl group) and β-scission
(a scission of the C–C bond beta to the carbon atom bearing a radical), etc.
Source:
PAC, 2004, 76, 889
(Definitions of terms relating to reactions of polymers and to functional polymeric
materials (IUPAC Recommendations 2003))
on page 892
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
