Chain characteristic properties

Properties. One of the characteristic properties of the polyphosphazene backbone is high chain dexibility which allows mobility of the chains even at quite low temperatures. Glass-transition temperatures down to —105° C are known with some alkoxy substituents. Symmetrically substituted alkoxy and aryloxy polymers often exhibit melting transitions if the substituents allow packing of the chains, but mixed-substituent polymers are amorphous. Thus the mixed substitution pattern is deUberately used for the synthesis of various phosphazene elastomers. On the other hand, as with many other flexible-chain polymers, glass-transition temperatures above 100°C can be obtained with bulky substituents on the phosphazene backbone. 

What Are the Key Ideas The large numbers of different hydrocarDons arise from the ability of carbon atoms to form long chains and rings with one another the types of carbon-carbon bonds that are present give the hydrocarbons characteristic properties. 

Since the transition from dilute to semi-dilute solutions exhibits the features of a second-order phase transition, the characteristic properties of the single- chain statics and dynamics observed in dilute solutions on all intramolecular length scales, are expected to be valid in semi-dilute solutions on length scales r < (c), whereas for r > E,(c) the collective properties should prevail [90]. 

The characteristic property of elastomers is their rubber-elastic behavior. Their softening temperature lies below room temperature. In the unvulcanized state, i.e. without crosslinking of the molecular chains, elastomers are plastic and thermo-formable, but in the vulcanized state—within a certain temperature range — they deform elastically. Vulcanization converts natural rubber into the elastic state. A large number of synthetic rubber types and elastomers are known and available on the market. They have a number of specially improved properties over crude rubber, some of them having substantially improved elasticity, heat, low-temperature, weathering and oxidation resistance, wear resistance, resistance to different chemicals, oils etc. 

The characteristic properties of peptides result from the presence of a chain of several or many amide bonds. A first problem is that of numbering, and here Fig. 6.1 taken from the IUPAC-IUB rules may help. A second and major aspect of the structure of peptides is their conformational behavior. Three torsion angles exist in the backbone (Fig. 6.2). The dihedral angle co (omega) describes rotation about C-N,

rotation about N-C , and ip (psi) describes rotation about C -C. Fig. 6.2 represents a peptide in a fully extended conformation where these angles have a value of 180°. 

In addition to the contribution of intermolecular forces, chain entanglement is also an important contributory factor to the physical properties of polymers. While paraffin wax and HDPE are homologs with relatively high molecular weights, the chain length of paraffin is too short to permit chain entanglement, and hence lacks the strength and other characteristic properties of HDPE. 

Terms such as paraffinic, naphthenic, naphthenic-aromatic, and aromatic-asphaltic are used in the several classification methods which have been proposed. These terms obviously relate to the molecular structure of the chemical species most prominent in the crude oil mixture. However, such classification is made difficult because the large molecules usually consist of condensed aromatic and naphthenic rings with paraffinic side chains. The characteristic properties of the molecules depend on the proportions of these structures. 

Properties. One of the characteristic properties of the polyphospha/enc backbone is high chain flexibility which allows mobility of the chains even al quite low lemperalures. 

The first example of Iiving polyolefin with a uniform chain length was found in the low-temperature polymerization of propylene with the soluble catalyst composed of V(acac)3 and Al(C1Hi)2Cl. The mechanism of the living coordination polymerization is discussed on the basis of the kinetic and stereochemical data. Subsequently, some applications of living polypropylene are introduced to prepare tailor-made polymers such as terminally functionalized polymers and block copolymers which exhibit new characteristic properties. Finally, new types of soluble Ziegler-Natta catalysts are briefly surveyed in connection with the synthesis of living polyolefins. 

The extended chains, that is, the backbones, may further organize into assemblies that have characteristic properties. The two most important of these are the a- helix and the /3-sheet. The latter is illustrated in Figure 1.23. Panel (a) shows the extensive hydrogen bond organization of peptide chains that are oriented in opposite directions. The arrows indicate the nitrogen to carbonyl (arrowhead) direction. The lower panel (b) shows an alternate FI-bond organization when the two peptide chains are parallel rather than antiparallel. 

One characteristic property of surfactants is that they spontaneously aggregate in water and form well-defined structures such as spherical micelles, cylinders, bilayers, etc. (review Ref. [524]). These structures are sometimes called association colloids. The simplest and best understood of these is the micelle. To illustrate this we take one example, sodium dode-cylsulfate (SDS), and see what happens when more and more SDS is added to water. At low concentration the anionic dodecylsulfate molecules are dissolved as individual ions. Due to their hydrocarbon chains they tend to adsorb at the air-water interface, with their hydrocarbon chains oriented towards the vapor phase. The surface tension decreases strongly with increasing concentration (Fig. 3.7). At a certain concentration, the critical micelle concentration or... 

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