Friday, November 17, 2017
Chemistry of nylon
Nylons are condensation polymers or copolymers, formed by reacting difunctional monomers containing equal parts of amine and carboxylic acid, so that amides are formed at both ends of each monomer in a process analogous to polypeptide biopolymers. Most nylons are made from the reaction of a dicarboxylic acid with a diamine (e.g. PA66) or a lactam or amino acid with itself (e.g. PA6).[39] In the first case, the "repeating unit" consists of one of each monomer, so that they alternate in the chain, similar to the so-called ABAB structure of polyesters and polyurethanes. Since each monomer in this copolymer has the same reactive group on both ends, the direction of the amide bond reverses between each monomer, unlike natural polyamide proteins, which have overall directionality: C terminal → N terminal. In the second case (so called AA), the repeating unit corresponds to the single monomer.[6]:45-50[40]
