The poor thermal stability of poly(vinyl chloride) requires processing in the presence of heat stabilizers. Numerous low molecular inorganic and organic compounds are suitable for this purpose. Another stabilization method, which has not yet been utilized, consists of copolymerizing vinyl chloride with comonomers to improve the stability of the resulting copolymers. Most halogen-free comonomers, such as diethyl fumarate or isobutylene, which prevent zipperlike dehydrochlorination, do not serve the purpose because the resulting copolymers are generally less stable than pure poly(vinyl chloride). However, metal salts of unsaturated carboxylic acids are suitable comonomers for enhancing the thermal stability of vinyl polymers. They have been used to determine the factors responsible for the improved heat stability of vinyl copolymers. Since these stabilizers are bonded into the polymer chain, it has been suggested that this method be called "internal stabilization," analogous to "internal plasticization." /Compared with other thermoplastics, poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) is ^ relatively unstable against the action of light and heat. Even at temperatures as low as 100 °C. PVC splits off noticeable amounts of hydro gen chloride. This degradation accelerates with increasing temperature and is troublesome in processing PVC at the required elevated tempera tures because of the corroding action of the liberated hydrochloric acid; in practical applications of PVC as plastic the discoloration accompanying degradation is equally undesirable.Because of its thermal instability, commercial PVC requires the addition of stabilizing agents which retard as much as possible dehydro chlorination and thus also prevent discoloration during processing. There are many compounds which act as "stabilizers." The most effective are 65