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Organic Chemistry

Polymers Definition

Introduction:

Polymer = poly (many) + mer (small unit) = many small units

Polymers are the large molecules made by repeating small molecular units. The repeating small molecular units are called monomers.  These monomers polymerize to form the polymer. Polymers are very high molecular mass substances formed by the combination of large number of simple repeating structure. Both polymer and macromolecules are high molecular mass substances but polymer have essentially repeating structural unit but a macro molecules may or may not have repeating structure.

Example: Polythene (-CH2-CH2)n  and chlorophyll( C55H72O5N4Mg)  are macromolecules, but only polythene is polymer but chlorophyll is not polymer as it does not contain repeating monomer.

Silicates, silicones are termed as inorganic polymer.