Mechanisms of polymerisation of perchloric acid and related initiators

Abstract

Extract from Introduction: Man has made use of natural polymers such as rubber and cellulose from the earliest times, but not until the late nineteenth century did he begin to synthesise polymers and investigate their nature. Countless polymers have been cast aside as unwanted tars by the organic chemists in their quest for pure products, nevertheless, some of these synthetic polymeric substances did attract attention. The concept that polymers were covalent structures many times greater in extent than those in simple compounds did not gain widespread acceptance before 1930. The older belief was that polymers were colloidal aggregates formed of smaller molecules through the interaction of intermolecular forces. However, the high viscosity, long range elasticity and high strength of these materials are all indications of the size and constitution of the covalent structures of high polymers. During the years 1860-1863 Laurenco reported the synthesis of polyethylene glycols of the formula HO-(C2H4O)n -H by condensing ethyleneglycol in the presence of ethylene di-halide. He was able to isolate individual members of the series, up to n = 6, by distillation, but he believed that n could- be much greater than 6. ...