Polymers—Macromolecules

Molded foam take-out containers are made of polystyrene. 

Polyethylene is an example of a synthetic polymer. Ethylene, derived from petroleum, is made to react with itself to form polyethylene (or polythene). 

Polyethylene is a long-chain hydrocarbon made from many ethylene units  

A typical polyethylene molecule is made up of about 2500-25,000 ethylene molecules joined in a continuous structure. Over 30 billion pounds of polyethylene are produced annually in the United States. Its uses are as varied as any single substance known and include chemical equipment, packaging material, electrical insulation, films, industrial protective clothing, and toys. 

Ethylene derivatives, in which one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by other atoms or groups, can also be polymerized. Many of our commercial synthetic polymers are made from such modified ethylene monomers. For example, CH2=CH— is a vinyl group and CH2=CHC1 is vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride can be polymerized to polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The names, structures, and some uses for several of these polymers are given in Table 19.9 

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Kotelyanskii M, Wagner N J and Paulaitis M E 1996 Building large amorphous polymer struotures atomistio simulation of glassy polymers Macromolecules 29 8497- 506... 

Brown, H.R., A molecular interpretation of the toughness of glassy polymers. Macromolecules, 24, 2752 (1991). 

Creton, C., Kramer, E.J., Hui, C.-Y. and Brown, H.R., Failure mechanisms of polymer interfaces reinforced with block copolymers. Macromolecules, 25, 3075-3088 (1992). Boucher et al., E., Effects of the formation of copolymer on the interfacial adhesion between semicrystalline polymers. Macromolecules, 29, 774-782 (1996). 

Schnell, R., Stamm, M. and Creton, C., Direct correlation between interfacial width and adhesion in glassy polymers. Macromolecules, 31, 2284-2292 (1998). 

Pryke, A. et al. Synthesis, hydrogenation, and rheology of 1,2-polybutadiene star polymers. Macromolecules, 35, 467, 2002. 

Gauthier, M. and Mdller, M. Uniform highly branched polymers hy anionic grafting Arborescent graft polymers. Macromolecules, 24, 4548, 1991. 

Allcock, H. R., Austin, P. E., Neenan, T. X., Sisko, J. T., Blonsky, P. M., and Shriver, D. F., Polyphosphazenes with etheric side groups Prospective biomedical and solid electrolyte polymers, Macromolecules. 19, 1508, 1986. 

Macosko, CW Miller, DR, A New Derivation of Average Molecular Weights of Nonlinear Polymers, Macromolecules 9, 199, 1976. 

Piletsky, SA Andersson, HS Nicholls, LA, Combined Hydrophobic and Electrostatic Interaction-Based Recognition in Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, Macromolecules 32, 633, 1999. 

Sehgal, A. and Seery, T.A.P., Anomalous dynamic light scattering from solutions of light absorbing polymers, Macromolecules, 32, 7807, 1999. 

DR Miller, CW Macosko. A new derivation of post gel properties of network polymers. Macromolecules 9 206-211, 1976. 

T Momii, T Nose. Concentration-dependent collapse of polymer gels in solution of incompatible polymers. Macromolecules 22 1384-1389, 1989. 

Premchandran RS, Banerjee S, Wu XK, John VT, McPherson GL, Ayyagari M, Kaplan D (1996) Enzymatic synthesis of fluorescent naphthol-based polymers. Macromolecules 29(20) 6452-6460... 

Organic polymers are sometimes referred to as plastics (although, this should be confined to thermoplastic polymers), macromolecules or resins, though the latter is often used to describe raw polymeric material awaiting fabrication. Many polymers are used in various forms that are not associated with normal plastic materials. These include paints and coatings, elastomers (rubbers), adhesives, sealants (caulks), surfactants and also their use in various industrial applications, e.g., ion-exchange resins, membranes. 

Thermoplastic polymer macromolecules usually tend to become oriented (molecular chain axis aligns along the extrusion direction) upon extrusion or injection moulding. This can have implications on the mechanical and physical properties of the polymer. By orienting the sample with respect to the coordinate system of the instrument and analysing the sample with polarised Raman (or infrared) light, we are able to get information on the preferred orientation of the polymer chains (see, for example, Chapter 8). Many polymers may also exist in either an amorphous or crystalline form (degree of crystallinity usually below 50%, which is a consequence of their thermal and stress history), see, for example, Chapter 7. 

L. Ding, D.A.M. Egbe, and F.E. Karasz, Photophysical and optoelectronic properties of green-emitting alkoxy-substituted PE/PV hybrid conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 37 6124-6131,2004. 

Z. Yang, I. Sokolik, and F.E. Karasz, A soluble blue-light-emitting polymer, Macromolecules, 26 1188-1190, 1993. 

G. Zeng, W.-L. Yu, S.-J. Chua, and W. Huang, Spectral and thermal stability study for fluorene-based conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 35 6907-6914, 2002. 

Q. Fang and T. Yamamoto, New alternative copolymer constituted of fluorene and triphenyla-mine units with a tunable -CHO group in the side chain. Quantitative transformation of the -CHO group to -CH=CHAr groups and optical and electrochemical properties of the polymers, Macromolecules, 37 5894-5899, 2004. 

T. Yamamoto, A. Morita, Y. Miyazaki, T. Marayama, H. Wakayama, Z.H. Zhou, Y. Nakamura, T. Kanbara, S. Sasaki, and K. Kubota, Preparation of ir-conjugated poly(thiophene-2,5-diyl), poly(p-phenylene), and related polymers using zerovalent nickel complexes. Linear structure and properties of the TT-conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 25 1214—1223, 1992. 

K.Y. Musick, Q.-S. Hu, and L. Pu, Synthesis of binaphthyl-oligothiophene copolymers with emissions of different colors systematically tuning the photoluminescence of conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 31 2933-2942, 1998. 

M. Remmers, D. Neher, J. Griiner, R.H. Friend, G.H. Gelinck, J.M. Warman, C. Quattrocchi, D.A. dos Santos, and J.-L. Bredas, The optical, electronic, and electroluminescent properties of novel poly(p-phcnylcnc)-rclatcd polymers, Macromolecules, 29 7432-7445, 1996. 

G. Zotti, G. Schiavon, S. Zecchin, J.-F. Morin, and M. Leclerc, Electrochemical, conductive, and magnetic properties of 2,7-carbazole-based conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 35 2122-2128, 2002. 

Y. Zhu, M.M. Alam, and S.A. Jenekhe, Regioregular head-to-tail poly(4-alkylquinoline)s synthesis, characterization, self-organization, photophysics, and electroluminescence of new n-type conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 36 8958-8968, 2003. 

C. Xu, H. Yamada, A. Wakamiya, S. Yamaguchi, and K. Tamao, Ladder bis-silicon-bridged stilbenes as a new building unit for fluorescent Tr-conjugated polymers, Macromolecules, 37 8978-8983, 2004. 

Although we made no attempt to elucidate the mechanism of friction decreases in rubbers after surface fluorination, it seems to us that apart from the substitution of H atoms to F in the polymer macromolecule, which forms a fluoropolymer on the surface, there is another phenomenon that makes a significant contribution to the friction decreases, i.e., fluorination of carbon black, which is used in rubber recipes for reinforcement. It appears that when the carbon black in the surface of the rubber is fluorinated it produces a lubricating effect, followed by blooming on the surface of the treated rubber while it is under a friction load. So, in our opinion, two effects contribute to friction decrease of carbon-filled rubbers fluorination of the rubber macromolecules and fluorination of the carbon black rubbers that do not contain carbon black show a much smaller decrease in friction after XeF2 treatment. 

P. Yuan and D. R. Walt, pH-Dependent fluorescence of merocyanine-eosin-labelled water-soluble polymers, Macromolecules 23, 4611-4615 (1990). 

Ding, J. F, Chuy, C. and Holdcroft, S. 2002. Enhanced conductivity in morphologically controlled proton exchange membranes Synthesis of macromonomers by SFRP and their incorporation into graft polymers. Macromolecules 35 1348-1355. 

Here we would like to emphasize that treatment with XeFj fluorinates the polymer surfaces, with the depth and degree of fluorination depending upon the reaction conditions. We never observed the formation of a perfluorinated surface layer after treatment with XeF,. Results of XPS analysis of XeFj-treated polyethylene film —(—CHj—CHj—) — showed that the maximum degree of fluorination corresponded to the composition —(—CF2—CH2—) —. After that, visible destruction of the polymer surface, i.e., cleavage of C—C bonds in the polymer macromolecule, would start. These results differ from those of the fluorination of polymer powders it was reported by Lagow and Margrave in the early 1970s that polymer powders were fully converted into perfluorinated polymers under the action of a F /N mixture. ... 

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