Polymers

CA State Standards
Students
Students know
know large
large molecules
molecules (polymers),
(polymers),

such
such as
as proteins,
proteins, nucleic
nucleic acids,
acids, and
and starch,
starch, are
are
formed
formed by
by repetitive
repetitive combinations
combinations of
of simple
simple
subunits.
subunits.
Students
Students know
know amino
amino acids
acids are
are the
the building
building
blocks
blocks of
of proteins.
proteins.
Students
Students know
know the
the bonding
bonding characteristics
characteristics of
of
carbon
carbon that
that result
result in
in the
the formation
formation of
of aa large
large
variety
variety of
of structures
structures ranging
ranging from
from simple
simple
hydrocarbons
hydrocarbons to
to complex
complex polymers
polymers and
and
biological
biological molecules.
molecules.

Definitions
Monomer - A molecule that
that can
can
combine with
with others of the same kind
to form a polymer.
Polymer - A substance that has a
molecular structure built from a large
number
number of similar units (monomers)
(monomers)
bonded
bonded together.

Carbohydrates
Monomer - The simple sugars

Glucose, sucrose, fructose (and

many others)

Polymer - The complex carbohydrates.

Starch and Cellulose
are long chains of simple
sugars

Proteins
Monomer - Amino acids
There are twenty
amino acids that
can be used to build
human proteins

Proteins

Polymer - When many amino acids bond together to

create long chains, the polymer is called a protein (it
is also called a polypeptide because it contains many
peptide bonds).

Insulin A Human protein

DNA (a nucleic acid) is

a polymer

DNA is made of monomers called

nucleotides
NH

O
HO

NH2

HO

OH

OH

OH

HO

OH

N
N
O

OH

NH
N

NH2

O
H3C

NH

O
HO

N
O

OH
OH

OH

Plastics
Plastics are synthetic polymers

Monomer:
Vinyl
chloride
C2H3Cl

Polymer:
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
[C2H3Cl]n

Synthetic Polymers and Their Uses