Naming of polymers

Polymers are either named according to the monomer that they are polymerized from (e.g. PVC, polymerized from vinyl chloride, CH2=CHCl) or they may be named according to functional groups in their repeating unit.

For instance Polyamide, also known by its brand Nylon, has a number of constitutions where the two most common ones are shown in Figure 5 below. The 6 of Polyamide 6 refers to the number of carbons of its repeating unit while the first 6 of Polyamide 66 refers to the number of carbons in between the nitrogens and the second refers to the number of carbons of the rest of the repeating unit.

The IUPAC rules for naming applies but for these often very complicated molecules this system is not really applicable.

Repeating unit of Polyamide 6 Polyamide 66

Figure 5. Repeating unit of Polyamide 6 (above) where the amide group is marked with an ellipsoid and Polyamide 66 (below)
Anders Persson, University of Borås

Task

Draw the repeating units of the textile fibre polymers: Acrylic, Polyester and Kevlar.

Check answer

Draw the repeating units of the textile fibre polymers: Acrylic, Polyester and Kevlar

repeating unit Acrylic
repeating unit Polyester
repeating unit Kevlar

Images 1 and 2 by Anders Persson, University of Borås, image 3 - Wikimedia/public domain

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Further reading

Study a relevant Polymer Science Textbook such as Young and Lovell Introduction to Polymers, 3rd Ed. CRC Press ISBN-10: 0849339294 or a free on-line textbook such as the one by Mustafa Akay (Download requires significant bandwidth and login).

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