Study of the thermal degradation of benzene-containing glycerol carbonate derivatives by a combined TG–FTIR and theoretical calculation

•Two new glycerol carbonate derivatives were designed and synthesized.•The thermal stability and pyrolysis of both compounds were explored by TG–FTIR.•The bond dissociation energy was calculated to explain the pyrolysis process.•The influence of polysubstitution of benzene on the thermal stability was studied.