Principles of Polymer Chemistry

WhUe the primary emphasis in this chapter will be directed toward manmade polymers, it is important to remember that many natural products are polymeric. One of the most important of these is rubber, a form of polyisoprene with distinctive elastic properties from which its practical importance is derived. Other important natural polymers are silk, wool, gutta-percha, cellulose, starch, and all the natural proteins. It is a curious and interesting fact that natural polymers have not been obtained synthetically (with the possible exception of a recently prepared polyisoprene which has a structure similar to the natural one), even though the experimental conditions which can be employed in the laboratory may be varied and controlled to a much greater d ree than the actual conditions under which these polymers are formed in nature. 

Other contributing factors are the average molecular weight, the naolec-ular- eight distribution function, the chenoical composition of the polymer and the spatial arrangement of substituents along the molecular chain. 

Large molecular complexes can be built up in two. possible ways either by an association of small molecules by means of secondary bonds (van der Waals forces, etc.) or by continuous chemical reactions between small molecules, thus establishing strong chemical bonds between them. In the first case, those molj ular associations which exist, for instance, in water, alco- 

Another way to induce bifunctionality in a double-bond molecule is to create high polarity in its originally neutral or only sbghtly polar structure. 

Bifunctional molecules may result from the opening of three—or more —membered rings, as for instance in the case of the formation of polymer molecules from ethylene oxide or tetrahydrofuran. An illustration of the over-all reaction scheme is given in Fig. 15-26. 

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Fiery P J 1953 Principles of Polymer Chemistry (Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press)... 

P. J. Floryt whose outstanding overall contributions in polymer chemistry won him the Nobel Prize in 1974. Flory s book Principles of Polymer Chemistry contains an admirable discussion of these topics. 

Flory, P. J., Principles of Polymer Chemistry, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1953. 

Figure 6.3 Log-log plots of Rp versus concentration which verify the order of the kinetics with respect to the constituent varied, (a) Monomer (methyl methacrylate) concentration varied at constant initiator concentration. [Data from T. Sugimura and Y. Minoura, J. Polym. Sci. A-l 2735 (1966).] (b) Initiator concentration varied AIBN in methy methacrylate (o), benzoyl peroxide in styrene ( ), and benzoyl peroxide in methyl methacrylate ( ). (From P. J. Flory, Principles of Polymer Chemistry, copyright 1953 by Cornell University, used with permission.)...

ELORY, p. J., Principles of Polymer Chemistry, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York (1953) HAWARD, R. N., Developments in Polymerisation, Vols 1 and 2, Applied Science, London (1979) JENKINS, A. D. (Ed.), Polymer Science (2 volumes), North-Holland, Amsterdam (1972)... 

Flory JP (1953) Principles of Polymer chemistry. Cornell Unit Press, Ithaca... 

Flory PJ (1953) Principles of polymer chemistry. Cornell Univ Press, Ithaca, New York... 

Flory, P.J. Principles of Polymer Chemistry Cornell University Press Ithaca, New York, 1953. 

Flory, P. J. Principles of polymer chemistry, New York Cornell Univ. Press 1953... 

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