The combination of chromatography with mass spectroscopy is a very useful technique which is being increasingly used by polymer chemists to improve existing polymers and to discover new ones with specific physical properties such as thermal stability and retention of properties over a long service life. This technique is extremely powerful for the analysis and characterisation of polymers and is often based on the use of controlled chromatography - mass spectroscopy to measure a polymer"s decomposition with techniques such as pyrolysis, followed by chromatography to separate any breakdown product, and, finally, mass spectroscopy, to achieve an unequivocal identification of the pyrolysis products obtained. The detail that can be obtained by such methods includes structure of the polymer backbone, branching, end groups, isomeric detail and fine detail in the structure of copolymers. The first three chapters of the book discuss the various chromatographic and mass spectroscopic...