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29.1: Prelude

  • Page ID
    80376
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    Polymers are substances made up of recurring structural units, each of which can be regarded as derived from a specific compound called a monomer. The number of monomeric units usually is large and variable, each sample of a given polymer being characteristically a mixture of molecules with different molecular weights. The range of molecular weights is sometimes quite narrow, but is more often very broad. The concept of polymers being mixtures of molecules with long chains of atoms connected to one another seems simple and logical today, but was not accepted until the 1930's when the results of the extensive work of H. Staudinger, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1953, finally became appreciated. Prior to Staudinger's work, polymers were believed to be colloidal aggregates of small molecules with quite nonspecific chemical structures.

    The adoption of definite chemical structures for polymers has had far-reaching practical applications, because it has led to an understanding of how and why the physical and chemical properties of polymers change with the nature of the monomers from which they are synthesized. This means that to a very considerable degree the properties of a polymer can be tailored to particular practical applications. Much of the emphasis in this chapter will be on how the properties of polymers can be related to their structures. This is appropriate because we already have given considerable attention in previous chapters to methods of synthesis of monomers and polymers, as well as to the mechanisms of polymerization reactions.

    The special technical importance of polymers can be judged by the fact that half of the professional organic chemists employed by industry in the United States are engaged in research or development related to polymers.

    Contributors and Attributions

    John D. Robert and Marjorie C. Caserio (1977) Basic Principles of Organic Chemistry, second edition. W. A. Benjamin, Inc. , Menlo Park, CA. ISBN 0-8053-8329-8. This content is copyrighted under the following conditions, "You are granted permission for individual, educational, research and non-commercial reproduction, distribution, display and performance of this work in any format."


    This page titled 29.1: Prelude is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by John D. Roberts and Marjorie C. Caserio.