Polymers: addition and condensation polymerisation; amino acids and natural polymers (DNA, proteins, starch, cellulose)

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AQA GCSE Chemistry Topic 7: Organic chemistry Synthetic and naturally occurring polymers (chemistry only) Notes (Content in bold is for Higher Tier only) www.pmt.education Addition polymerisation ● Alkenes can be used to make polymers such as poly(ethene) and poly(propene) by addition polymerisation. In this reaction, many small molecules (monomers) join together to create very large molecules (polymers). For example: ● The repeat unit has the same atoms as the monomer because no other molecule is formed in the reaction ● when you draw out a polymer make sure than you remember to draw the bonds coming off the C’s out the brackets and the little ‘n’ (means there are large numbers of these molecules joined together) Condensation polymerisation ● Involves monomers with two functional groups o When they react, they join together, usually losing small molecules such as water, and so the reactions are called condensation reactions o Simplest polymers are produced from two different monomers with two of the same functional groups on each monomer E.g. this polyester has 1 monomer with 2 carboxylic acid functional groups and 1 monomer with 2 alcohol functional groups: Amino acids ● They hav...