Editing Polymer (section)

==Standardized nomenclature==
There are multiple conventions for naming polymer substances. Many commonly used polymers, such as those found in consumer products, are referred to by a common or trivial name. The trivial name is assigned based on historical precedent or popular usage rather than a standardized naming convention. Both the [[American Chemical Society]] (ACS)<ref>CAS: Index Guide, Appendix IV ((c) 1998)</ref> and [[IUPAC]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=IUPAC|title=Nomenclature of Regular Single-Strand Organic Polymers|journal=Pure Appl. Chem.|year= 1976 |volume=48|pages=373–385|doi=10.1351/pac197648030373|issue=3|doi-access=free}}</ref> have proposed standardized naming conventions; the ACS and IUPAC conventions are similar but not identical.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.polyacs.org/nomcl/mnn18.html|title=Macromolecular Nomenclature Note No. 18|first= E.S.|last= Wilks|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030925160856/http://www.polyacs.org/nomcl/mnn18.html|archive-date= 25 September 2003}}</ref> Examples of the differences between the various naming conventions are given in the table below:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Common name
! ACS name
! IUPAC name
|-
| [[Poly(ethylene oxide)]] or PEO
| Poly(oxyethylene)
| Poly(oxyethylene)
|-
| [[Poly(ethylene terephthalate)]] or PET
| Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyloxycarbonyl-1,4-phenylenecarbonyl)
| Poly(oxyethyleneoxyterephthaloyl)
|-
| [[Nylon 6]] or Polyamide 6
| Poly[imino(1-oxo-1,6-hexanediyl)]
| Poly[azanediyl(1-oxohexane-1,6-diyl)]
|}

In both standardized conventions, the polymers' names are intended to reflect the monomer(s) from which they are synthesized (source based nomenclature) rather than the precise nature of the repeating subunit. For example, the polymer synthesized from the simple alkene [[ethene]] is called polyethene, retaining the ''-ene'' suffix even though the double bond is removed during the polymerization process:

:[[File:Ethene polymerization.png]]&rarr;[[File:Polyethylene repeat unit.svg|frameless|upright=0.45]]
However, IUPAC structure based nomenclature is based on naming of the preferred [[Repeat unit|constitutional repeating unit]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hiorns|first1=R. C.|last2=Boucher|first2=R. J.|last3=Duhlev|first3=R.|last4=Hellwich|first4=Karl-Heinz|last5=Hodge|first5=Philip|last6=Jenkins|first6=Aubrey D.|last7=Jones|first7=Richard G.|last8=Kahovec|first8=Jaroslav|last9=Moad|first9=Graeme|last10=Ober|first10=C. K.|last11=Smith|first11=D. W.|date=3 October 2012|title=A brief guide to polymer nomenclature (IUPAC Technical Report)|journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry|language=en|volume=84|issue=10|pages=2167–2169|doi=10.1351/PAC-REP-12-03-05|s2cid=95629051|issn=0033-4545|doi-access=free}}</ref>

IUPAC has also issued guidelines for abbreviating new polymer names.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=He |first=Jiasong |last2=Chen |first2=Jiazhong |last3=Hellwich |first3=Karl-Heinz |last4=Hess |first4=Michael |last5=Horie |first5=Kazuyuki |last6=Jones |first6=Richard G. |last7=Kahovec |first7=Jaroslav |last8=Kitayama |first8=Tatsuki |last9=Kratochvíl |first9=Pavel |last10=Meille |first10=Stefano V. |last11=Mita |first11=Itaru |last12=Santos |first12=Claudio dos |last13=Vert |first13=Michel |last14=Vohlídal |first14=Jiří |date=2014-06-18 |title=Abbreviations of polymer names and guidelines for abbreviating polymer names (IUPAC Recommendations 2014) |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/pac-2012-1203/html?lang=en |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |language=en |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=1003–1015 |doi=10.1515/pac-2012-1203 |issn=1365-3075}}</ref> 138 common polymer abbreviations are also standardized in the standard [[ISO]] 1043-1.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ISO 1043-1:2011 |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/50590.html |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=ISO |language=en}}</ref>