A dimethacrylate cross-linker cleavable under thermolysis or alkaline hydrolysis conditions: synthesis,...

The polymerization process that involves carbanion as an intermediate is called anionic polymerization. It is also a type of addition or chain-growth polymerization. Anionic polymerization gets initiated by a strong nucleophile such as an organolithium or a Grignard reagent. The most commonly used initiator for anionic polymerization is butyl lithium. Monomers involved in anionic polymerization must possess a vinyl group bonded to one or two electron-withdrawing groups. For instance,...

Acyclic diene metathesis polymerization or ADMET polymerization involves cross-metathesis of terminal dienes, such as 1,8-nonadiene, to give linear unsaturated polymer and ethylene. As ADMET is a reversible process, the formed ethylene gas must be removed from the reaction mixture to complete the polymerization process.
Similar to cross-metathesis, ADMET also involves the formation of metallacyclobutane intermediate by [2+2] cycloaddition of one of the double bonds of a terminal diene with...

Overview
Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction in which the addition of water breaks down a polymer into its simpler monomer units. For example, peptides break into amino acids, carbohydrates into simple sugars, and DNA into nucleotides. Enzymes often facilitate these processes.
Hydrolysis Reverses Dehydration Synthesis
Complex carbohydrates can be broken down by breaking the bonds between individual sugar units. The reaction breaks a glycosidic bond as water is added to the compound. The...

Alkynes undergo oxidative cleavage in the presence of oxidizing reagents like potassium permanganate and ozone. The triple bond — one σ bond and two π bonds — is completely cleaved, and the alkyne is oxidized to carboxylic acids. When warm and basic aqueous potassium permanganate is used as an oxidizing agent, alkynes are first converted to carboxylate salts via an unstable α-diketone intermediate. Further, a mild acid treatment protonates the carboxylate anions...

Ethers are generally unreactive and unsuitable for direct nucleophilic substitution reactions since the alkoxy groups are strong bases and, therefore, poor leaving groups. However, ethers readily undergo acidic-cleavage reactions. Ethers can be converted to alkyl halides when heated with strong acids such as HBr and HI in a sequence of two substitution reactions.

The conversion of alkenes to macromolecules called polymers is a reaction of high commercial importance. The structure of the polymer is defined by a repeating unit, while the terminal groups are considered insignificant. The average degree of polymerization represents the number of repeating units in the polymer molecule and is denoted by the subscript n.