The surface-sensitive technique of sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy has been applied to study the buried interfaces between different polymers including deuterated polystyrene (d-PS) and deuterated poly(methyl methacrylate) (d-PMMA) and a two-component silane adhesion-promoting mixture (SAPM) composed of (3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (gamma-GPS) and a methylvinylsiloxanol (MVS). Because of the dissolution of d-PS, no SFG C-H stretching signals could be collected from the d-PS/gamma-GPS interface, and SFG signals collected from the d-PS/SAPM interface gradually disappeared over time. SFG results also showed that gamma-GPS can diffuse through the d-PMMA film. The diffusion of gamma-GPS through the d-PMMA film was confirmed by SFG studies on the interface between gamma-GPS and a d-PMMA/PS two-polymer layer system. Initially the SFG signal from the PS layer was detected. However, after y-GPS diffused through the d-PMMA film, the PS film was dissolved by the silane, and thus the SFG signal from PS was lost. Similar experiments have been carried out at the interface between the SAPM and the d-PMMA/PS two-polymer layer system and it was found that the diffusion time of the gamma-GPS in the SAPM through the d-PMMA film was significantly longer. These results were much different to those from previous SFG studies on the analogous PET interfaces and appear consistent with differences in solubility parameters calculated for these systems. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.