Vibrational Spectroscopic Studies on Trans-1,4-Polychloroprene

Vibrational spectroscopy plays a prominent role in the research and development of polymers. It provides useful information on their chemical, conformational, crystal and morphological structure. The study of elastomers by Raman spectroscopy has been desirable for a long time. It has allowed quantitative work on blends and isomeric elastomers and also the direct study of the rubber vulcanisation process. Problems associated with fluorescence, exaggerated by the presence of impurities in the elastomer and the addition of cross-linking materials and anti-detergents, have meant that the vibrational spectra of elastomers have been limited to IR spectroscopy. In conventional Raman spectroscopy, materials have been specially selected to be of low fluorescence and have undergone extensive preparation before examination. This is particularly unfortunate as the technique, with its high sensitivity to the non-polar species (C=C and C−S) which ∗Corresponding author