Zinc glycerolate (ZnGly) was prepared and used as a poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) thermal stabilizer in this work. ZnGly was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry (TGA), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Visual color evolution and thermal stability time at 180 degrees C were used to examine the stabilizing efficiency of the samples. The thermal stability of PVC was significantly enhanced through adding ZnGly or ZnGly with lanthanum stearate (LaSt3). Compared with zinc stearate (ZnSt2), it was demonstrated the initial color stability was markedly improved and the thermal stability time was obviously extended by adding ZnGly. The thermal stability time of ZnGly was threefold than ZnSt2. In comparison with CaSt2/ZnSt2, the extent of coloration of PVC samples was significantly inhibited though adding LaSt3/ZnGly. It was verified that the appropriate percents of ZnGly in the mixture were between 25 and 50%. A possible mechanism for the stabilizing efficiency of ZnGly was also proposed. The stabilizing efficiency was attributed to the stabilizer's ability to absorb hydrogen chloride and replace the labile chlorine atoms on PVC chains. Moreover, the dynamic thermogravimetric analysis was used to confirm that combination of LaSt3 with ZnGly presented an obvious improvement of stability on thermal degradation of PVC. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013