Pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics of β-cyclodextrin and its two derivatives

β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and its derivatives have been widely used to prepare inclusion complexes. However, systematic research on their thermal stabilities, pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics has rarely been reported. In this paper, thermogravimetric analysis was employed to investigate β-cyclodextrin and its two derivatives, 2-Hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and monochlorotriazinyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCT-β-CD). The pyrolysis characteristics and kinetic parameters were obtained. The results show that three stages can be distinguished during the heating process of the above three samples. The temperature of initial decomposition of HP-β-CD (309.5°C is higher than that of β-CD (297.8°C), while the temperature of initial decomposition of MCT-β-CD (231.4°C) is lower than that of β-CD. For the three cyclodextrins, the thermal stability in descending order is HP-β-CD, β-CD and MCT-HP-β-CD. The activation energy values are 350.6, 303.3 and 113.9 KJ/mol, and the pre-exponential factor values are 1.11×1031, 1.37×1026 and 1.39×1010 for β-CD, HP-β-CD and MCT-β-CD respectively.