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Condensation polymerisation: monomers and repeating units

Organic chemistry • Synthetic and natural polymers

Key concepts

What you'll likely be quizzed about

  • Condensation polymerisation is a step-growth process where two functional groups react to form a new covalent bond, releasing a small molecule in the process.
  • This reaction occurs between two monomers, each containing at least two reactive functional groups, which allows for chain extension in both directions.
  • Consequently, each bond-formation step creates a repeating unit while releasing a small molecule, such as water or HCl, thereby excluding the small molecule from the polymer’s repeating unit.

Flashcards

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What limits chain length in condensation polymerisation?

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Incomplete removal of the small molecule, imbalanced stoichiometry, and monofunctional impurities restrict chain length, producing oligomers.

Key notes

Important points to keep in mind

Condensation polymerisation requires monomers with at least two reactive functional groups.

Ester links form from carboxyl + alcohol; amide links form from carboxyl + amine.

The repeating unit excludes the small molecule removed during each step.

Removal of the small molecule drives the equilibrium toward polymer formation.

Exact stoichiometric balance of monomers increases average chain length.

Catalysts speed the reaction but do not change bond identity.

Incomplete removal of the small molecule produces oligomers, not high-mass polymer.

Amino acids polymerise by forming peptide (amide) bonds with water elimination.

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