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Chemical reactions of Polymers

Hermann Staudinger, a professor of organic chemistry at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (University of Applied Sciences) in Zurich, is the father of modern polymer development. His research in the 1920s led the way to modern manipulations of both natural and synthetic polymers. He coined two terms that are key to understanding polymers: polymerization and macromolecules, according to the American Chemical Society (ACS). He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1953 "for his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry." 

Polymerization is the method of creating synthetic polymers by combining smaller molecules, called monomers, into a chain held together by covalent bonds, according to ThoughtCo., an online educational resource. Various chemical reactions — those caused by heat and pressure, for example — alter the chemical bonds that hold monomers together, according to Scientific American. The process causes the molecules to bond in a linear, branched or network structure, resulting in polymers. These chains of monomers are also called macromolecules.

Most polymer chains have a string of carbon atoms as a backbone. A single macromolecule can consist of hundreds of thousands of monomers, according to the Polymer Science Learning Center.

By livesscience.com 

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