Question

When acrylic polymers are burned, toxic fumes are produced. For example, in many airplane fires, more passenger deaths have been caused by breathing toxic fumes than by the fire itself. Using polyacrylonitrile as an example, what would you expect to be one of the most toxic, gaseous combustion products created in the reaction?

Short answer

We would expect the most toxic, gaseous combustion products created in the reaction is hydrogen cyanide gas to be formed.

Step-by-step solution

To find When acrylic polymers are burned, toxic fumes are produced

In the reaction of combustion, the red bond between two carbon atoms will be broken. As a result, gas hydrogen cyanide (HCN) will be formed. The triple bond between a carbon atom and a nitrogen atom will not be broken because it requires more energy than a red marked single bond.

Hence, we would expect hydrogen cyanide gas to be formed.