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Related Concept Videos

Step-Growth Polymerization: Overview01:03

Step-Growth Polymerization: Overview

Step-growth or condensation polymerization is a stepwise reaction of bi or multifunctional monomers to form long-chain polymers. As all the monomers are reactive, most of the monomers are consumed at the early stages of the reaction to form small chains of reactive oligomers, which then combine to form long polymer chains in the late stages. Hence, the reaction has to proceed for a long time to achieve high molecular weight polymers.
Many natural and synthetic polymers are produced by...
Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Chain Branching01:17

Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Chain Branching

The skeletal structure of polymers synthesized via radical polymerization is always branched. For example, the polymerization of ethylene by radical polymerization results in a low-density grade of polyethylene with a heavily branched skeletal structure. Here, the radical site abstracts hydrogen from the growing chain, and the radical site shifts from the end (a primary carbon center) to anywhere within the growing chain (a secondary carbon center). Consequently, the part of the chain from the...
Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview01:10

Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview

Chain-growth or addition polymerization is successive addition reactions of monomers with a polymer chain. In radical chain-growth polymerization, the reaction proceeds via a free-radical intermediate. The free radical is formed from radical initiators, which spontaneously generate free radicals by homolytic fission. Organic peroxides (such as dibenzoyl peroxide, as shown in Figure 1) or azo compounds are popular radical initiators. A low concentration ratio of radical initiator to monomer is...
Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism01:09

Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism

The radical chain-growth polymerization mechanism consists of three steps: initiation, propagation, and termination of polymerization. The polymerization initiates when a free radical generated from the radical initiator adds to the unsaturated bond in the monomer. The unpaired electron of the free radical and one π electron in the unsaturated bond creates a σ bond between the free radical and the monomer. As a result, the other π electron in the unsaturated bond converts this species into the...
Ziegler–Natta Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview01:17

Ziegler–Natta Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview

Ziegler–Natta polymerization is another form of addition or chain‐growth polymerization used for synthesizing linear polymers over branched polymers. The catalyst used for polymerization is the Ziegler–Natta catalyst, named after Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta, who developed it in 1953. This catalyst is an organometallic complex of titanium tetrachloride and triethyl aluminum, with the active form of the catalyst being an alkyl titanium compound. Using the Ziegler–Natta catalyst, high molecular...
Anionic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism01:04

Anionic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism

The mechanism for anionic chain-growth polymerization involves initiation, propagation, and termination steps. In the initiation step, a nucleophilic anion, such as butyl lithium, initiates the polymerization process by attacking the π bond of the vinylic monomer. As a result, a carbanion, stabilized by the electron‐withdrawing group, is generated. The resulting carbanion acts as a Michael donor in the propagation step and attacks the second vinylic monomer, which acts as a Michael acceptor.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
06:55

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level

Published on: September 26, 2016

Fast simulation of polymer chains.

Carsten Hartmann1, Christof Schütte, Galina Kalibaeva

  • 1Institut für Mathematik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 6, 14195 Berlin, Germany. chartman@mi.fu-berlin.de

The Journal of Chemical Physics
|April 17, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

We developed a new algorithm for simulating polymer chains of hard spheres. This method efficiently handles collisions and allows for longer simulation time steps, improving computational speed.

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Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization
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Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization

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Realistic Membrane Modeling Using Complex Lipid Mixtures in Simulation Studies

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
06:55

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level

Published on: September 26, 2016

Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization
07:28

Ethylene Polymerizations Using Parallel Pressure Reactors and a Kinetic Analysis of Chain Transfer Polymerization

Published on: November 27, 2015

Realistic Membrane Modeling Using Complex Lipid Mixtures in Simulation Studies
07:31

Realistic Membrane Modeling Using Complex Lipid Mixtures in Simulation Studies

Published on: September 1, 2023

Area of Science:

  • Computational physics
  • Polymer science
  • Numerical methods

Background:

  • Simulating polymer dynamics is computationally intensive.
  • Existing methods like Verlet struggle with large time steps and collision handling.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a fast and efficient algorithm for simulating polymers.
  • To improve the accuracy and speed of polymer simulations.

Main Methods:

  • Chains of hard spheres with holonomic bond constraints.
  • Collocation-based partitioned Gauss-Runge-Kutta method for free motion.
  • Nested interval method for precise collision point determination.
  • Analytical computation of impulsive contributions.

Main Results:

  • The proposed method is reversible, symplectic, and energy-preserving.
  • Achieves significantly longer time steps compared to explicit integrators.
  • Accurate determination and handling of polymer collisions.

Conclusions:

  • The algorithm offers a significant improvement in speed and efficiency for polymer simulations.
  • Provides a robust framework for handling both free motion and collisions in polymer systems.