Polymer
From Principles of Applied Arts
Polymer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. "Polymer" is a generic term used to describe a very long molecule consisting of structural units and repeating units connected by covalent chemical bonds. The key feature that distinguishes polymers from other molecules is the repetition of many identical, similar, or complementary molecular subunits in these chains. These subunits, the monomers, are small molecules of low to moderate molecular weight, and are linked to each other during a chemical reaction called polymerization. Instead of being identical, similar monomers can have varying chemical substituents. The differences between monomers can affect properties such as solubility, flexibility, and strength. In proteins, these differences give the polymer the ability to adopt a biologically-active conformation in preference to others. (See self-assembly.) Identical monomers with nonreactive side groups result in a polymer chain that will tend to adopt a random coil conformation, as described by an ideal chain mathematical model. Although most polymers are organic, with carbon-based monomers, there are also inorganic polymers; for example, the silicones, with a backbone of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms. Polymers are typically classified according to three main groups: thermoplastics (linear or branched chains) thermosets (crosslinked chains) elastomers The term polymer covers a large, diverse group of molecules, including substances from proteins to stiff, high-strength Kevlar fibres. For example, the formation of polyethene (also called polyethylene) involves thousands of ethene molecules bonded together to form a straight (or branched) chain of repeating -CH2-CH2- units (with a -CH3 at each terminal):
Polymers are often named in terms of the monomer from which they are made. Because it is synthesized from ethene in a process during which all the double bonds in the vinyl monomers are lost, polyethene has the unsaturated structure:
If it were named according to its final structure, it would have the alkane designation "polyethane". Because synthetic polymer formation is governed by random assembly from the constituent monomers, polymer chains within a solution or substance are generally not of equal length. This is unlike basic, smaller molecules in which every atom is stoichiometrically accounted for, and each molecule has a set molecular mass. An ensemble of differing chain lengths, often obeying a normal (Gaussian) distribution, occurs because polymer chains terminate during polymerization after random amounts of chain lengthening (propagation). Proteins are polymers of amino acids. Typically, hundreds of the (nominally) twenty different amino acid monomers make up a protein chain, and the sequence of monomers determines its shape and biological function. (There are also shorter oligopeptides which function as hormones.) But there are active regions, surrounded by, as is believed now (Aug 2003), structural regions, whose sole role is to expose the active regions. (There may be more than one on a given protein.) So the exact sequence of amino acids in certain parts of the chains can vary from species to species, and even given mutations within a species, so long as the active sites are properly accessible. Also, whereas the formation of polyethylene occurs spontaneously under the right conditions, the synthesis of biopolymers such as proteins and nucleic acids requires the help of enzyme catalysts, substances that facilitate and accelerate reactions. Unlike synthetic polymers, these biopolymers have exact sequences and lengths. (This does not include the carbohydrates.) Since the 1950s, catalysts have also revolutionised the development of synthetic polymers. By allowing more careful control over polymerization reactions, polymers with new properties, such as the ability to emit coloured light, have been manufactured. The characterization of a polymer requires several parameters which need to be specified. This is because a polymer actually consists of a statistical distribution of chains of varying lengths, and each chain consists of monomer residues which affect its properties. Some of these parameters are described below.
Constitution of polymers
Copolymers
Copolymerization with two or more different monomers results in chains with varied properties. There are twenty amino acid monomers whose sequence results in different shapes and functions of protein chains. Copolymerising ethene with small amounts of 1-hexene (or 4-methyl-1-pentene) is one way to form linear low-density polyethene (LLDPE). (See polyethylene.) The C4 branches resulting from the hexene lower the density and prevent large crystalline regions from forming within the polymer, as they do in HDPE. This means that LLDPE can withstand strong tearing forces whilst remaining flexible.
A heteropolymer|block copolymer is formed when the reaction is carried out in a stepwise manner, leading to a structure with long sequences or blocks of one monomer alternating with long sequences of the other. There are also graft copolymers, in which entire chains of one kind (e.g., polystyrene) are made to grow out of the sides of chains of another kind (e.g., polybutadiene), resulting in a product that is less brittle and more impact-resistant. Thus, block and graft copolymers can combine the useful properties of both constituents and often behave as quasi-two-phase systems.
The following is an example of step-growth polymerization, or condensation polymerization, in which a molecule of water is given off and nylon is formed. The properties of the nylon are determined by the R and R' groups in the monomers used.
The first commercially successful, completely synthetic polymer was nylon 6,6, with alkane chains R = 4C (adipic acid) and R' = 6C (hexamethylene diamine). Including the two carboxyl carbons, each monomer donates 6 carbons; hence the name. In naming nylons, the number of carbons from the diamine is given first and the number from the diacid second. Kevlar is an aromatic nylon in which both R and R' are benzene rings.
Copolymers illustrate the point that the repeating unit in a polymer, such as a nylon, polyester or polyurethane, is often made up of two (or more) monomers.
