copolymerization

1 8.2

A chemical process that joins two or more different small molecules to make a long plastic chain

noun
/ˌkoʊpəˌlɪməraɪˈzeɪʃən/

Specialized

: copolimerización

Copolymerization allows for the creation of materials with desired properties by combining multiple monomers.

Examples

Another approach is copolymerization of 4-hydroxystyrene (HOST) with t-butyl acrylate (TBA), which is employed in the preparation of the ESCAP resist resin 12.

Academic text (2001)
Reactive extrusion may be particularly well-suited for quick starch graft copolymerization.

Academic text (1994)
The scientist studied the copolymerization of two different chemicals to create a stronger material.
During the experiment, the researcher observed the copolymerization process that produced a unique plastic.

Synonyms

polymerization

vscopolymerization

Specialized

1 8.6

A process that joins many small molecules into one long molecule like plastic

requires two or more different monomer types instead of identical ones

Surface Forms

copolymerization singular

copolymerizations plural

Morphology

copolymerization = polymerization (transparent) = co + polymer + ization

The word is built regularly by adding co- to polymerization, giving the straightforward meaning of joint or mixed polymerization.

Etymology

Copolymerization comes from co- meaning 'together', poly- meaning 'many' as in polygon, and -ization meaning 'a process', while polymer means 'many parts'. So, copolymerization is the process of joining different single parts called monomers 'together' to make a long material of 'many parts', which explains why it means forming polymers from two or more monomers.