C11 - Polymers

• Polymerisation - the reaction in which many small monomer units join together to form large molecules called polymers
• There are two types of polymerisation:

  • Addition
  • Condensation
• Addition polymerisation:

  • Process in which individual alkene monomers are added to form a a polymer through an addition reaction
  • The double bond in the alkene molecules open up so that they can form a large polymer molecule
  • The reaction is carried out under pressure in the presence of a catalyst
• Condensation polymerisation:

  • Involves monomers with two of the same functional group
  • Each monomer has an H removed from both alcohol funcional groups
  • An OH is removed from the carboxylic acid functional group
• Condensation polymerisation also produces water as a product
• Diol - an alcohol containing two -OH functional groups
• Dicarboxylic acid - a carboxylic acid containing 2 -COOH functional groups
• For certain substances, HCl is produced instead of water as a product of condensation polymerisation
• Proteins - biological polymers made from amino acid monomers
• Amino acids join together through condensation polymerisation to form polymers called polypeptides (proteins)
• The bond that joins the amino acids is called a peptide link
• Glucose monomers join together to form starch polymers
• Glucose is an example of a monosaccharide
• Starch is an example of a polysaccharide
• DNA - Dioxyribonucleic Acid
• DNA is made up of two polymer chains formed from four different monomers called nucleotides
• 2 condensation reactions occur in the formation of a nucleotide