ABSTRACT
Step polymerizations are, in most cases, logical extensions of simple organic chemistry linking reactions to chain formation and were the first types of polymerizations to be understood from a fundamental perspective, the work of Carothers during the 1920s and 1930s being seminal in this respect. In this chapter, the most important types of step polymerization are introduced and exemplified. The mechanisms of the reactions are not shown because they are identical to the wellestablished mechanisms of the equivalent small molecule reactions which can be found in any university-level textbook on organic chemistry.
