Please can someone help me before i pull all my hair out i've been struggling with this for about a week
CH2=CH-CH-OH
________'
_______CH3
i need to polymerize this compound and draw the structural formula it needs to contain three monomer units and i need to state the polemerization involved in forming the polymer
please help me!
sarah
Sarah--Sorry to keep you waiting but I had to find the answer. I'm not an organic chemist and this stuff was too messy for me to feel confident that I was giving you the correct answer. I have a friend who has a Ph. D. in organic chemistry and has taught organic for about 30 years so I emailed him. His answer follows:
"I suspect this alcohol is dehydrated to 1,3 butadiene which subsequently polymerizes. Three units would look like this:
-CH2CH=CHCH2-CH2CH=CHCH2-CH2CH=CHCH2-
1,3 butadiene is CH2=CHCH=CH2 is the monomer."
I think if you redrew the structure like this--
CH2=CHCH(OH)CH3 it will be easier to see. Or like this.
CH2=CHCHCH3
------|
------O
------|
------H
The H on the alcohol combines with one of the Hs on the terminal CH3 to eliminate H2O and form the double bond between C-3 and C-4.
I hope this helps.
I see the spacing didn't turn out right.
I will try again.
CH2=CHCHCH3
______|
______O
______|
______H
Still not quite right BUT I think you can tell what is going on.
To polymerize the compound CH2=CH-CH-OH, you need to convert the alcohol group (-OH) into a reactive group that can participate in polymerization. One way to do this is by dehydrating the alcohol group to form 1,3-butadiene (CH2=CHCH=CH2), which can then polymerize.
The structural formula of the polymer containing three monomer units would look like this:
-CH2CH=CHCH2-CH2CH=CHCH2-CH2CH=CHCH2-
Each monomer unit is connected through double bonds, alternating with single bonds.
The polymerization involved in forming this polymer is called "addition polymerization" or "chain-growth polymerization." In this process, monomers add together to form a long chain polymer without the elimination of any small molecules. The double bonds in 1,3-butadiene react with each other, forming new single bonds and extending the polymer chain.
I apologize for the confusion caused by the incorrect spacing in the previous explanation. The correct structural formula for the monomer is CH2=CHCH(OH)CH3 or CH2=CHCHCH3 with an oxygen atom bonded to the carbon atom adjacent to the double bond and a hydrogen atom attached to the oxygen atom. This structure helps illustrate the dehydration process and the formation of the double bond.
I hope this clarifies the process of polymerization and the structural formula of the polymer.