1.18 - General Polymer Nomenclature and Terminology

Abstract

One of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s (IUPAC) missions is to contribute to an international language of Chemistry by providing internationally accepted systems of nomenclature and terminology. For Polymer Science this started comparably late, in the early 1950s with the IUPAC Commission on Macromolecules, which later became the Polymer Division. On this solid basis, Polymer Science delivered its own contribution to the progress of Chemistry. The development of Chemistry is reflected, for example, in the so-called ‘colored books’ with its flagship, the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the ‘Gold Book’), and – in the field of Polymer Science – the Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature (the ‘Purple Book’) besides the other well-known ‘colored books’. The Purple Book contains all the important publications of the Polymer Division, recommendations for nomenclature of almost all types of polymers in structure-based and source-based nomenclature systems and for the terminology that is necessary when polymeric systems are considered. A short historical review of the development of the IUPAC Polymer Division and its output until now is followed by selected examples of the Polymer Division’s projects. Projects eventually result in published recommendations and it is shown how these recommendations are accomplished. Finally, there is a short introduction to the structure and use of the Gold Book, the content of the Purple Book, and the present structure of the IUPAC Polymer Division with its multitude of subcommittees.