Polymers that are made up of identical monomer units are called homopolymers. Only one repeating unit is involved in the construction of the homopolymer ...

Copolymers are the products obtained from the polymerization of multiple monomer species. So, in a polymer chain itself, there can be multiple repeating ...

Unlike small molecules with definite molecular weights, polymers are a mixture of individual polymer chains of varying lengths, each with a unique ...

For any given polymer, the weight average molecular weight (Mw) is higher than, if not equal to, the number average molecular weight (Mn). The only ...

Polymers are classified as linear or branched on the basis of their chain architecture. The polymer chains in linear polymers have a long chain-like ...

Unlike ionic or small covalent molecules, polymers do not form crystalline solids due to the diffusion limitations of their long-chain structures. ...

Polymerization generates chiral centers along the entire backbone of a polymer chain. Accordingly, the stereochemistry of the substituent group has a ...

Chain-growth or addition polymerization is successive addition reactions of monomers with a polymer chain. In radical chain-growth polymerization, the ...

The radical chain-growth polymerization mechanism consists of three steps: initiation, propagation, and termination of polymerization. The polymerization ...

The skeletal structure of polymers synthesized via radical polymerization is always branched. For example, the polymerization of ethylene by radical ...

The polymerization process that involves carbanion as an intermediate is called anionic polymerization. It is also a type of addition or chain-growth ...

The mechanism for anionic chain-growth polymerization involves initiation, propagation, and termination steps. In the initiation step, a nucleophilic ...

The cationic polymerization mechanism consists of three steps: initiation, propagation, and termination. In the initiation step of the polymerization ...

Ziegler–Natta polymerization is another form of addition or chain‐growth polymerization used for synthesizing linear polymers over branched ...

Step-growth or condensation polymerization is a stepwise reaction of bi or multifunctional monomers to form long-chain polymers. As all the monomers are ...

Step growth polymerization involves bi or multifunctional monomers. Bifunctional monomers react to form linear step growth polymers, whereas ...

The introduction of polyesters has brought major development to the textile industry. The wrinkle-free behavior of polyester blends has eliminated the ...

Recently, the development of olefin metathesis polymerization advanced the field of polymer synthesis. Simply put, the reorganization of substituents on ...

Ring-opening metathesis polymerization or ROMP involves strained cycloalkenes as starting materials. The mechanism of ROMP proceeds by reacting ...

Acyclic diene metathesis polymerization or ADMET polymerization involves cross-metathesis of terminal dienes, such as 1,8-nonadiene, to give linear ...