ChemistryCode 5070
Polymers
What this topic asks you to be able to do
- define a polymer as a big molecule made by joining many smaller molecules known as monomers
- Identify, for both addition and condensation polymers, the repeat units and/or linkages present.
- Deduce an addition polymer's structure or repeat unit when given its alkene, and deduce the alkene when given the polymer
- Deduce a condensation polymer's structure or repeat unit when given its monomers, and deduce the monomers when given the polymer, limited to: (a) polyamides, formed when a dicarboxylic acid reacts with a diamine (b) polyesters, formed when a dicarboxylic acid reacts with a diol
- outline how addition polymerisation and condensation polymerisation differ
- State that plastics consist of polymers
- Describe the ways in which the properties of plastics affect how they are disposed of
- Describe the problems that plastics cause for the environment, limited to: (a) disposal of them at land fill sites (b) the way they accumulate in oceans (c) the toxic gases formed when they are burned
- Outline and sketch the structures of: (a) nylon, which is a polyamide (b) PET, which is a polyester
- State that PET can be broken back down into its monomers, which can then be polymerised again
- Describe proteins as natural polyamides, built from amino acid monomers that have the general structure: H O H H O N H C C R, in which R stands for one of various kinds of side-chain
- Describe proteins and sketch their structure in the form: N H C O N H C O N H C O