Pyrolysis products of 1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine (PCP)

Abstract

PCP was pyrolyzed in air at 400°, 600°, and 800 °C and the yield of HCN produced was barely detectable at 400 °C, 2.3% at 600 °C, and 5.1% at 800 °C. Gas chromatography (gc) and gc/mass spectrometry (gc/ms) showed the only pyrolysis products produced at 400 °C to be phenylcyclohexane and 1-phenylcyclohexene with 60–70% of the PCP recovered. Only trace amounts of PCP survived the 600 °C pyrolysis, the majority of the pyroproducts being polynuclear aromatics (PNAs) with three or fewer rings. The 800 °C pyrolysis yielded minor amounts of four-ring PNAs, the remainder being similar to the 600 °C products but differing in the relative amounts. Minor amounts of aza-arenes were produced in the 600 °C and 800 °C pyrolyses and separation techniques are described.