NSCI 1322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Hermann Staudinger, Lindsay Perigo, Synthetic Fiber
12 Jan 2017
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A polymer is a chemical species of very high molecular weight made up from many units of low molecular weight covalently linked together. A compound used to make a pol(cid:455)(cid:373)er (cid:894)a(cid:374)d fro(cid:373) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h the pol(cid:455)(cid:373)er"s u(cid:374)it arises(cid:895) is (cid:272)alled a (cid:373)o(cid:374)o(cid:373)er. The name polyethylene stems from the name of the monomer (ethylene) plus the prefix poly-, (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)g (cid:862)(cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:455). (cid:863) Polyethylene is an example of a synthetic polymer, one made in the laboratory or commercially from nonpolymeric substances. We will look at synthetic polymers in the next two sections. The first polymers that chemists studied, however, were natural or biological polymers, including rubber, cellulose, starch, and proteins. Proteins and deoxyribonucleic acids (dna) are polymers that form the basis of life on earth. His work ushered in an era of systematic study of polymers. Although chemists were i(cid:374)itiall(cid:455) skepti(cid:272)al of taudi(cid:374)ger"s idea of gia(cid:374)t (cid:373)ole(cid:272)ules, the orga(cid:374)i(cid:272) (cid:272)he(cid:373)ist. Wallace carothers proved this idea by using methods of organic chemistry to synthesize polymers.
