Introduction

Polymer chemistry grew into its own branch of chemistry over the last several decades because of the huge body of knowledge built up around it and its ever-widening use in everyday life. Today's world would look completely different without polymers -- artificial fibres, plastics and elastomers are everywhere, from a disposable candy wrapper to an artificial heart. Chemically, a polymer is a complex, giant macromolecule built by interlinking many repeating structural units that are derived from small starting molecules called monomers. The word 'polymer' itself comes from the Greek 'poly' (many) and 'mer' (part or unit) -- literally 'many parts' joined together. Because of this repeated interlinking, polymers reach very high molecular masses, typically in the range $10^3$ to $10^7$ u, far larger than the small monomer molecules they are built from. Both inorganic polymers and organic polymers exist. You have already met three important organic biopolymers -- carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids -- in Chapter 14; this chapter turns instead to man-made organic polymers, studying how they are classified, how the important ones are prepared, and where they are used.