Polymerisation reactions Flashcards
what is a monomer?
monomers are small molecules that combine to form a polymer
what do we mean by repeat unit?
the repeat unit of a polymer is the set of atoms that are joined together in large numbers to produce the polymer structure
many compounds containing the C=C double bond can be
polymerised
polymerisation reactions should be described as
addition reactions
polymerisation reactions should be described as addition reactions because
the alkene molecules add together in vast numbers to form the polymer
the usual conditions needed to carry out a polymerisation reaction are
high pressure and high temperature
when considering polymers, the term ‘alkene’ can be widened to include
other compounds containing C=C attached to other hydrocarbons groups and to halogens
the standard way to name a polymer is by
writing ‘poly’, followed by the name of the monomer in brackets
polymers formed do not have a fixed
molecular formula (because their molecular masses can be anything from many tens of thousands to thousands of millions)
the letter n shows
the number of monomer molecules in reacting
to show polymerisation reactions in equations, we use….and a …………………………..in……….
n and a repeating unit in brackets [square]
when drawing the repeating unit in an equation, we
display the repeating unit in brackets, with n as a subscript and covalent bonds extending past the brackets
when you are given a polymer containing several repeating units and need to identify the monomer, you have to
identify the point at which a monomer is repeated
once you identify the repeating unit, and need to make this a monomer, you have to
add a C=C double bond between two carbons so that all carbons in the chain have four bonds
alkene molecules should be drawn with angles of
120 degrees between the bonds
