Polymers offer the opportunity to discover foundational principles of organic chemistry

Polymers of all categories and the monomers necessary for their syntheses offer numerous opportunities for beginning students of organic chemistry to be exposed to and learn the details of foundational principles of organic chemistry. This view on polymer chemistry is the focus of three chapters in a new book, "Organic Chemistry Principles in Context: A Story Telling Historical Approach." The chapter to follow is based on information from this book focused only on radicals and not on condensation polymers, which are also discussed in the book. The discussion on radicals yields information normally presented in undergraduate organic chemistry courses but in the context of the importance of polymers. In this manner polymer yield insight into the addition of radicals to double bonds, the reactivity of polymers in hydrogen abstraction, the beta-scission reactions of radicals and how resonance stabilization of radicals blocks the radical polymerization of propylene.