Enroll Now in Introduction to Polymer Chemistry Course. In this course, we offer an introduction to polymer chemistry for both science and engineering students. We will introduce the methods in naming and classifying polymers, and we will be introduced to the mechanisms by which polymers are synthesized. The course focuses on the common synthetic polymers important in industry, and their mechanisms.
Polymers are one of the most significant building materials on earth. Naturally occurring polymers have been used by humans from ancient times such; as silk and cellulose. Even our body incorporates polymers, protein, and DNA.
Until recently it was believed that polymers are large macromolecules that form due to aggregations of monomers into polymers. The work of Hermann Staudinger in 1922 that was not accepted until 1953 proved that polymers consist of long chains of atoms that are held together by covalent bonds. This concept allowed us to understand the forces that hold molecules together and to be able to synthesize many polymers.
A key turning point for synthesizing polymers was the development of synthetic rubber prior to world war II. The synthetic rubber (styrene-butadiene rubbers) (SBR) driven from the copolymerization of styrene and 1,3-butadiene replaced 50% of natural rubber used in making car tires.
The course is split into three parts:
The first part talks about the different approaches used in classifying polymers, either based on origin, structure, mode of polymerization, or forces that join monomers together. In this part, you will learn that the development in understanding the basic building units of polymers helped in understanding how polymers are formed and it helped also in developing a systematic-methods in naming polymers.
In the second part, we will talk about the different methods used in naming polymers and the rules and seniority between the polymeric units according to the IUPAC system.
In the third part, we talk about the polymers mechanisms:
Polymerization mechanisms:
I. Addition chain polymerization
a. free-radical polymerization
b. Ionic-chain reaction and coordination polymerization
II. Step-growth polymerization
Step-reaction condensation and addition polymerization
III. Ring-opening polymerization
