The purpose of this article is to inform the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering readership about the status of polymer related nomenclature. Most of us who were trained in organic chemistry as undergraduates were introduced to the International Union Pure and Applied Chemistry system of nomenclature. What very many practicing polymer scientists and engineers do not know is that a corresponding nomenclature exists for polymers.
Many countries have corresponding or feeder organizations.
The entire field has recently been reviewed 1-3 and consolidated in a single compendium. There are several approaches to chemical nomenclature. The popular source-based nomenclature emphasizes the monomer name. The structure-based names are frequently more complicated. Nomenclature extends beyond the formal names of compounds now, however.