Nomenclature, polymer functional groups

Hydrocarbon nomenclature Functional groups Polymers Biochemistry... 

The names of many polymers are based on the monomers from which they were prepared. There is, however, frequent variation in the format. A nomenclature of polymers was reconunended by lUPAC and is used in some publications. Strict adherence to the recommendation, however, is mainly found in reference wor. Also, problems are often encountered with complex polymeric structures that are crosslinked or have branches. In addition some polymers derive their names from trade names. For instance, a large family of polyamides is known as nylons. When more than one functional group is present in the structure, the material may be called according to all functional groups in the structure. An example is a polyesteramide. A thermoset polymer prepared from two different materials may be called by both names. For instance, a condensation product of melamine and formaldehyde is called melamine-formaldehyde polymer. 

The Constitutional Repeat Unit the repeat urrit of a polymer, is described in the section on polymer nomenclature in Appendix II. It is the chemical functional group which is named to rrame the polymer by enclosing the name of the Constitutional Repeat Urrit in parentheses and placing the word poly" in fiont of it. 

Representing crosslinked polymers is more complicated. There is the same difficulty in nomenclature for crosslinked polymers. As a result, standard denominations were introduced for this class of polymers. After the prefix poly , there is the name of the functional group that bonds the repetition units (polyaldehyde, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyester, polysulfide, polyphosphonitrile, etc.) (Rudin, 1999). 

It may be noted that there are various practices with respect to nomenclature in the literature. The epoxy group is also called the epoxide, oxirane or ethoxyline group. Both cross-linked polymers and low molecular weight resin precursors are variously known as epoxies or epoxides. In this chapter, the terms epoxy, epoxy resin and epoxy group are used to indicate cross-linked polymer, precursor and functional group respectively. 

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