POLYMERS OF THE 1980S: FAMILIAR CONCEPTS, NEW VISTAS.

Systematic investigation of the structure of natural organic polymers began in the early decades of this century as soon as experimental methods became available to measure very large molecular weights and to establish the arrangement of the giant molecules in the solid state as they exist in such important materials as cotton, flax, silk, wool, leather, starch, and rubber. The article discusses several general principles that have emerged from these studies, including macromolecularity and polymolecularity, crystallization, crosslinking, and the synthesis of linear rigid polymers.