PALE:ClassicArticles/Polymers
From NSDLWiki
Polymers: From Small Molecules to Useful Macromolecular Materials
coming in 2010
SAMPLE INTRODUCTORY TEXT If one were to travel back to the formative years of the industrial revolution, among the multitude of differences evident between that time and the present would be the absence of synthetic materials, and some natural products, based on long chains of molecules called polymers . Beginning in latter years of the 19th century, enormous concerted advance of pure and applied chemistry related to polymers has allowed for the development of a diverse range of materials right up to our present day. The wide array of novel substances created over the past 100+ years possessed properties that transformed industry and society.
Presented here is a sample of landmark papers in polymer chemistry and materials engineering. These works describe empirical investigations that revealed the nature of specific molecular interactions and how they could be engineered to meet the demands of the modern world's ever-expanding variety of applications.
List of Research Achievements/Proposed Articles
Draft list of topics/breakthroughs/papers
1. Ziegler's 1953 discovery of ethylene oligomerization by nickel salts with trialkylaluminums--first synthesis of linear polyethylene
2. Natta's 1955 discovery of stereoregular polyproopylene--the beginning of the Tupperware era
3. Kaminsky's 1981 demonstration that of efficient homogeneous catalysts for polyethylene and polypropylene
4. Two bundled ideas: Kaminsky/Brintizinegr 19884 and Ewen 1988 synthesis of stereoregular polypropylenes using rationally designed catalysts
5. Chain shuttling polymerization catalysis: commodity scale synthesis of polyolefin block copolymers (DOW, Science Magazine article)
6. M. Swarc's 1953 Nature paper on living anionic polymerization--toward PostIt notes and better shoe soles and tires
7. Wallace Carothers and Nylon 6 and polyester-1930's
8. Synthetic rubber--1930's and 1940's (key article hard to identify--war efforts?)
9. I.G. Farben and the synthesis of polystyrene (DOW and Styrofoam)
10. Bakelite
11. Celluose acetate--film and tape reels
12. Non-ionic surfactants--Pluronics--better hair gel and soaps and cosmetics
13. Thiokols--Morton-Thiokol and the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger
14. PET--poly(ethylene terephthalate) and revolutionary process for monomer production--enzyme-like catalysis
15. poly(hydroxybutyrate)--Proctor and Gamble bioplastics
16. Poly(lactic acid) and poly(glyocolic acid)--plastics in biomedical devices, one made from corn
17. Cyanoacrylates--Superglue
18. Epoxy resins--5 minute epoxy and other materials--crosslinkable gels.
19. Block copolymers--from shoe soles to microelectronics.
20. Bayer 1872 Pre-Bakelite work with phenol formaldehyde
