Evaluation of Extraction Conditions for Volatile Extractables from Polypropylene, PBT Resins, and Chlorobutyl Rubber Elastomers Using a Variety of Solvents and Extraction Techniques

Abstract

Chemical safety assessment is one necessary step to demonstrate that the polymer used is free from harmful chemicals. The assessment should start with adequate material characterization using state-of-the-art analytical methods, including various chromatography techniques most often hyphenated with mass-spectrometric detection. Since polymers are usually incompatible with direct analysis using chromatography-based techniques, an extraction step is required prior to analytical testing. This paper provides information for practitioners who need to understand how to develop science-based extraction conditions that enable the determination of the polymer composition with respect to volatile compounds. Analytical data sets for three types of polymers (polypropylene, polycarbonate, polybutylene terephthalate, and a rubber elastomer) are presented using three different solvents and three different extraction techniques. The extracts were collected at different times during extraction and analyzed by GC-MS. The differences observed between extraction techniques, conditions, and solvents are discussed to better understand the impact of these parameters in extractable studies.