Eleven chelating tetrazole -containing ligands have been synthesized, and their complexes with palladium(II) and ruthenium(II) prepared. Proton n.m.r. spectroscopy, electronic absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry have been used to study the nature of the metal-ligand interactions in these complexes. The negatively charged tetrazolate group is shown to be a strong electron donor with very different properties to those of the protonated or alkylated tetrazole group. This leads to pH control of the properties of transition metal complexes containing such ligands.

The long-term heat stabilisation efficiency of (natural) polyol additives in heavy metal-and zinc-free poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) has been investigated. It is shown that polyols, such as sorbitol and xylitol, markedly reduce the dehydrochlorination rate and improve Congo Red values. Extraction experiments on unprocessed and ground-processed PVC-sorbitol (1.0 phr) mixtures after thermal degradation at 200 C revealed that especially in the ground-processed PVC-sorbitol system, sorbitol is partly converted into its mono-and dianhydro-derivatives 1,4-sorbitan and isosorbide, respectively. Apparently, the HCl released during thermal degradation acts as the catalyst. Similar intramolecular cyclodehydration reactions also occur with the natural polyols, erythritol and xylitol, under these conditions. Scrutiny of the measured dehydrochlorination rates and the Congo Red values for groundprocessed heavy metal-and zinc-free PVCepolyol mixtures show that in particular polyols containing primary hydroxyl groups exert long-term heat stabilisation and that they act as efficient HCl scavengers.

The propensity of (natural) polyols dispersed in heavy metal-and zinc-free PVC sheets to improve the initial colour, e.g. the colour during the first minutes of exposure to high processing temperatures (short-term stability), has been investigated. It is shown using W(Lab) values that the initial colour improves upon addition of polyols containing primary hydroxyl groups. The polyols act as HCl scavengers, presumably via an acid-catalysed S N 2 substitution of the primary hydroxyl groups by chloride ions. In contrast, polyols with only secondary or tertiary hydroxyl groups accelerate the thermal degradation of PVC. Notwithstanding, the efficacy of the (natural) polyols containing primary hydroxyl groups will be reduced if the polyol is susceptible to competitive acid-catalysed intramolecular cyclodehydration reactions under the processing conditions. This is substantiated by a comparison of the behaviour of mannitol and 3,4-di-O-methyl-D-mannitol. The methylated derivative, which is less prone to undergo intramolecular cyclodehydration, improves the initial colour of heavy metal-and zinc-free PVC sheets more significantly than mannitol itself.