ABSTRACT
The most basic requirement for polymerization is that each molecule of monomer must be capable of being linked to two (or more) other molecules of monomer by chemical reaction, i.e. monomers must have a functionality of two (or higher). Given this relatively simple requirement, there are a multitude of chemical reactions and associated monomer types that can be used to effect polymerization. Consequently, the number of different synthetic polymers that have been prepared is extremely large and many can be formed by more than one type of polymerization. Hence, the number of individually different polymerization reactions that have been reported is extraordinarily large. To discuss each of these would be an enormous task which fortunately is not necessary since it is possible to categorize most polymerization reactions into a relatively small number of classes of polymerization, each class having distinctive characteristics.
