Some Basic Features About Polymers

We have seen in the above sections a survey of various preparative methods for assembling organic polymers. We will now acquaint ourselves of some basic features that are distinctive of polymers. 

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Thus, polymers are less and less exotic in the domain of health, and learning some basic concepts about polymers is necessary in order to design better-adapted devices and excipients and to understand what may happen when polymers are in contact with living tissues. In addition, the knowledge of some special features linked to the use of such specialised polymers is required for those using them in the domain of health. 

Table 7 reports the surface free energy values and their dispersive, acidic, and basic components for polymers and other materials. There are some interesting features about the y" " (acidity) and the y (basicity) scales reported in this table ... 

Much of the effort of organic chemists since about 1930, especially in industrial research laboratories, has been directed toward the synthesis of polymeric materials, and many such substances have come to play a prominent role in industry and commerce. In this chapter, some of the reactions that are utilized to create useful polymers will be illustrated. It will be seen from the discussion that the basic mechanisms of polymerization reactions are the same as those encountered in the reactions of small organic molecules, and that the special features of polymerizations are the result of the high molecular weights of the molecules involved. 

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