Example

If a particular type of polyethylene has a molecular mass of 150,000 g/mol, what is its
degree of polymerization?

Solution
The repeating unit or mer for polyethylene is [ CH 2 — CH 2 ] . This mer has a mass of
4 atoms × 1 g = 4 g for the hydrogen atoms plus a mass of 2 atoms × 12 g = 24 g for the
carbon atoms, making a total of 28 g for each polyethylene mer.
𝑔
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑦𝑚𝑒𝑟 ( )
𝐷𝑃 = 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑔
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑟 ( )
𝑚𝑒𝑟
150000 𝑔/𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝐷𝑃 =
28 𝑔/𝑚𝑒𝑟

= 5357 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠/𝑚𝑜𝑙

Polymerization Steps:

1. Initiation

Catalyst is used to initiate polymerization. Catalyst act as free radical formers.

Eg. Peroxide (H2O2) is used in polymerization of ethylene.

R-O+CH2=CH2 → R-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH.2

2. Propagation

This process extends the polymer chain by successive addition of monomer units.

Double bonds of monomers opens up by the extended free radical and covalently bonds to it.

R-CH2-CH2+CH2=CH2 → R-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH.2

3. Termination

Is the ending of the chain by addition of a terminator free radical or when 2 polymer chains
combine.

Termination by joining of 2 chains can be represented by:

R(CH2-CH2).m + R’(CH2-CH2).n → R(CH2-CH2)m – (CH2-CH2)nR’