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 Chemistry Project
Natural polymers (from the Greek poly meaning “many”
and meros meaning “parts”) are found in many forms
such as horns of animals, tortoise shell, rosin (from pine
trees), and from distillation of organic materials.
One of the most useful of the natural polymers was
rubber, obtained from the sap of the hevea tree. (Rubber
was named by a chemist found that a piece of solidified
latex gum was good for rubbing out pencil marks on
paper. In Great Britain, erasers are still called “rubbers”.)
Natural rubber had only limited use as it became brittle
in the cold and melted when warmed. In 1839, Charles
Goodyear discovered, through a lucky accident, that by
heating the latex with sulfur, the
properties were changed making the rubber more flexible and Image 2.2
temperature stable. That process became known as vulcanization.

The first synthetic polymer, a phenol-formaldehyde

polymer, was introduced under the name “Bakelite”
(Image 2.2 & 2.3), by Leo Baekeland in 1909. Its original use
was to make billiard balls. Rayon, the first synthetic fiber
was developed as a replacement for silk in 1911. Although
many polymers were made in the following years, the
technology to mass produce them was not developed until
World War II, when there was a need to develop synthetic
rubber for tires and other wartime applications and nylon
for parachutes. Since that time, the polymer industry has
grown and diversified into one of the fastest growing
industries in the world. Today, polymers are commonly
used in
Image 2.3
thousands of products as plastics, elastomers, coatings,
and adhesives. They make up about 80% of the organic
chemical industry with products produced at
approximately 150 kg of polymers per person annually in
the United States.

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Furthermore, conductive polymers are organic polymers that conduct electricity. Such
compounds may be true metallic conductors or semiconductors. It is generally accepted
that metals conduct electricity well and that organic compounds are insulating, but this
class of materials combines the properties of both. The biggest advantage of conductive
polymers is their processibility. Conductive polymers are also plastics (which are organic
polymers) and therefore can combine the mechanical properties (flexibility, toughness,
malleability, elasticity, etc.) of plastics with high electrical conductivities. Their properties
can be fine-tuned using the exquisite methods of organic synthesis.

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Level of Caution

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Polymers Synthesis and Property Analysis
What actually happened
I was slightly nervous to try out something absolutely new and was uncertain of its
results. I took the chemicals given to me by Baboolal sir and followed the instructions.
I took the phenol-formaldehyde reaction mixture in a beaker, placed it over a sheet of
paper. Took a test tube full of HCl, and added it to the beaker slowly with constant
stirring. And by slowly I mean I almost emptied the test tube in about two minutes. I
couldn’t figure the polymerization point as no precipitate appeared. Thinking there’s
something wrong with the procedure, I went to ask for ma’ams advice. She asked me
to indirectly heat it. Due to certain reasons, I didn’t hear indirectly and heated the
beaker over the flame for about 30 seconds. Nothing happened. Depressed, I walked
away from it wondering what to do next. And then suddenly there was this loud noise
of some kind of explosion. It was the beaker. All the contents had poured out like
foam, except solid. It was light pink in color. It had lots of pours in it and kind of looked
like pumice stone. Ma’am said it happened because I’d supplied a lot of heat by direct
heating, and it seemed the most plausible explanation to it and so to obtain a proper
polymer, I modified the experimental setup after discussing it with ma’am.
I set up a large water filled beaker on a tripod stand with wire gauze and in a boiling
tube took the reaction mixture. I fixed this boiling tube using a clamp stand, half
dipped in the beaker so that the contents were evenly heated. I added the same
amount HCl as before, except this time, I added a few drops after every 30 seconds.
This time, after 3 minutes, I could see something suddenly happen in the boiling tube.
I alerted ma’am but again it exploded. The sudden reaction broke the boiling tube,
and caused a crack in the beaker. I collected the polymer and washed it. Its physical
appearance was the same as before.

Both these experiments suggested that the reaction was extremely fast, but its
activation energy was fairly high. So no matter if its directly heated, or indirectly, the
moment it gains sufficient energy, the polymerization starts rapidly.
intermediate

High AE

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 reactant
product

reaction progress

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Level of Caution

ˌ ɒˈ ɪ ː

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0
 3.5
3
2.5
2
Time
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Concentration

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Level of Caution

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 +

at 40 *C

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4
at 40 *C
30

25

20

Time (min) 15

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Concentration

180
160
140
120
100
Time (min)
80
60
40
20
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Concentration

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+ +

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8