Abstract
Abstract Features within an infrared (IR) or Raman spectrum recorded from an organic polymer may yield information on chemical structure and composition, isomerism and stereoregularity, conformational order, molecular orientation and state of order. This article discusses spectra‐structure correlations, both generic (e.g. polyethylene; polybutadiene) and detailed (e.g. high density, low density and linear low density polyethylene;1,4 cis ‐, 1,4‐ trans and 1,2‐ polybutadiene ), within polymer mid‐infrared and Raman spectra, using as examples for interpretation a range of common polymer types. It considers the influences on polymer and copolymer vibrational spectra of the effects of tacticity, regularity, molecular conformation and orientation, and crystallinity, and discusses copolymer sequence lengths and end group characterisations. The article concludes with examples of spectra recorded from formulated products highlighting the contributions some additives and fillers may make to the observed vibrational spectra of commercial polymer products.
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