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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 dis lla on 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 s ll called “rubbers”.)
Natural rubber had only limited use as it became bri le
in the cold and melted when warmed. In 1839, Charles
Goodyear discovered, through a lucky accident, that by
hea ng the latex with sulfur, the
proper es were changed making the rubber more flexible and Image 2.2 temperature
stable. That process became known as vulcaniza on.

The first synthe c 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 synthe c 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 un l World War
II, when there was a need to develop synthe c rubber for
res and other war me applica ons and nylon for
parachutes. Since that me, 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 plas cs, elastomers, coa ngs, 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, conduc ve 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 insula ng, but this
class of materials combines the proper es of both. The biggest advantage of conduc ve
polymers is their processibility. Conduc ve polymers are also plas cs (which are organic
polymers) and therefore can combine the mechanical proper es (flexibility, toughness,
malleability, elas city, etc.) of plas cs with high electrical conduc vi es. Their proper es
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 instruc ons.
I took the phenol-formaldehyde reac on 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
s rring. And by slowly I mean I almost emp ed the test tube in about two minutes. I
couldn’t figure the polymeriza on 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
hea ng, and it seemed the most plausible explana on to it and so to obtain a proper
polymer, I modified the experimental setup a er 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 reac on 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 me, I added a few drops a er every 30 seconds.
This me, a er 3 minutes, I could see something suddenly happen in the boiling tube.
I alerted ma’am but again it exploded. The sudden reac on 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 reac on was extremely fast, but its
ac va on energy was fairly high. So no ma er if its directly heated, or indirectly, the
moment it gains sufficient energy, the polymeriza on 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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 3.5
3
2.5
2
Time
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
ConcentraƟon

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Level of Caution

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 +

at 40 *C

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at 40 *C
30

25

20

Time (min) 15

10

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

ConcentraƟon

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

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