Polymer Chemistry: An Overview

Abstract

Natural and synthetic polymers have made human life much more comfortable and have become an integral part of our daily lives. Their unique features, such as low cost, corrosion resistance, low density, thermal, or electrical insulation, enable these materials to find various potential applications in distinct fields. In this introductory chapter, we focus on the polymers' origin, history, and evolution, and present a comprehensive overview of the types of distinct polymers, classification based on different aspects, and various synthetic strategies to achieve the desired polymers through functional group linkage chemistry. We discuss the major polymerization techniques and the underlying mechanistic aspects, including step-growth, radical, interfacial, coordination polymerization, and so on. A brief discussion of the characterization and application of the polymers is provided. In addition, we describe the evolution of higher dimensional framework/network structures, which emerged as state-of-the-art materials.