Aldehyde Polymerization, Helical Polymers, Macromolecular Asymmetry, and Oligomers

Abstract

A historical development of the polymerization of higher aldehydes is presented. It shows the development of the polymerization of the simplest example, formaldehyde, the very ancient and to some extent incorrect history of other aldehyde polymerizations, and actually starts with the full understanding of this field as of the early 1950s. Much of the early work is incoherent and inconsistent, not surprisingly because of the limited knowledge of polymer chemistry that was available at that time. This contribution tries to correlate the polymerization of formaldehyde, the higher aliphatic aldehydes, and the trihaloacetaldehydes within the framework of a comprehensive understanding of the field of polymer science. The extensive progress in the field of trihaloacetaldehyde polymerization has led to the development of cryotachensic polymerization, the concept of optical activity based on macromolecular asymmetry, ultimately the recognition of the importance of the study of oligomers of stereoregular polymers, and the very essence of the embryonic state of addition polymerization.