What is "poly"

Poly \Po"ly\, n. [L. polium, the name of a plant, perhaps Teucrium polium, Gr. ?.] (Bot.) A whitish woolly plant ( Teucrium Polium) of the order Labiat[ae], found throughout the Mediterranean region. The name, with sundry prefixes, is sometimes given to other related species of the same genus. [Spelt also poley.]

Poly mountain. See Poly-mountain, in Vocabulary.

Etymology 1

1. (context chiefly informal English) polyamorous n. 1 polytechnic. 2 polyethylene (polythene) 3 (context chiefly computer graphics English) polygon 4 (context uncountable English) polyester 5 (context chiefly informal English) polyamory 6 (context chiefly informal English) A polyamorous person. v

2. (context transitive video games roguelikes English) To polymorph; to transform by magi

3. Etymology 2

   alt. A whitish woolly plant ((taxlink Teucrium polium species noshow=1)) of the order Labiatae, found throughout the Mediterranean. n. A whitish woolly plant ((taxlink Teucrium polium species noshow=1)) of the order Labiatae, found throughout the Mediterranean.

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), also known as acrylic or acrylic glass as well as by the trade names Plexiglas, Acrylite, Lucite, and Perspex among several others (see below), is a transparent thermoplastic often used in sheet form as a lightweight or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. The same material can be utilised as a casting resin, in inks and coatings, and has many other uses.

Although not a type of familiar silica-based glass, the substance, like many thermoplastics, is often technically classified as a type of glass (in that it is a non-crystalline vitreous substance) hence its occasional historic designation as acrylic "glass". Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. The material was developed in 1928 in several different laboratories by many chemists, such as William Chalmers, Otto Röhm and Walter Bauer, and was first brought to market in 1933 by the Rohm and Haas Company under the trademark Plexiglas.

PMMA is an economical alternative to polycarbonate (PC) when extreme strength is not necessary. Additionally, PMMA does not contain the potentially harmful bisphenol-A subunits found in polycarbonate. It is often preferred because of its moderate properties, easy handling and processing, and low cost. Non-modified PMMA behaves in a brittle manner when under load, especially under an impact force, and is more prone to scratching than conventional inorganic glass, but modified PMMA is sometimes able to achieve high scratch and impact resistance.

Poly, from the Greek πολύς meaning "many" or "much", may refer to:

Poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV, or polyphenylene vinylene) is a conducting polymer of the rigid-rod polymer family. PPV is the only polymer of this type that can be processed into a highly ordered crystalline thin film. PPV and its derivatives are electrically conducting upon doping. Although insoluble in water, its precursors can be manipulated in aqueous solution. The small optical band gap and its bright yellow fluorescence makes PPV a candidate in applications such as light-emitting diodes (LED) and photovoltaic devices. Moreover, PPV can be doped to form electrically conductive materials. Its physical and electronic properties can be altered by the inclusion of functional side groups.

Poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) is the precursor to a conducting polymer of the rigid-rod polymer host family. Oxidation or the use of dopants is used to convert the non-conductive form to a semiconductor. It is made of repeating p- phenylene units.

Poly(2,6-diphenyl-p-phenylene oxide) (PPPO) is a porous polymer resin based on oxidative polymerisation of 2,6-diphenylphenol. It is mostly known by its trademark Tenax.

Poly(p-phenylene oxide) or poly(p-phenylene ether) (PPE) is a high-temperature thermoplastic. It is rarely used in its pure form due to difficulties in processing. It is mainly used as blend with polystyrene, high impact styrene-butadiene copolymer or polyamide. PPO is a registered trademark of SABIC Innovative Plastics IP B.V. under which various polyphenylene ether resins are sold.

Poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) is a polymer made from methacrylic acid. It is often available as its sodium salt, poly(methacrylic acid) sodium salt.

Poly(N-vinylacetamide) (PNVA) is an polymer having affinity for both water and alcohol made primarily from N-vinylacetamide (NVA) monomer. The homopolymer of NVA is called GE191 grade. Copolymer of NVA and sodium acrylate called GE167 grade.

Poly(hexamethylene carbonate) (PHC) is an organic polymer. It can be biodegredated to form adipic acid and di(6-hydroxyhexyl) carbonate by Roseateles depolymerans 61A.

Poly(hydridocarbyne) (PHC) is one of a class of carbon-based random network polymers primarily composed of tetrahedrally hybridized carbon atoms, each having one hydride substituent, exhibiting the generic formula [HC]n. PHC is made from bromoform, a liquid halocarbon that is commercially manufactured from methane. At room temperature, poly(hydridocarbyne) is a dark brown powder. It can be easily dissolved in a number of solvents ( tetrahydrofuran, ether, toluene etc.), forming a colloidal suspension that is clear and non-viscous, which may then be deposited as a film or coating on various substrates. Upon thermolysis in argon at atmospheric pressure and temperatures of 110 °C to 1000 °C, decomposition of poly(hydridocarbyne) results in hexagonal diamond ( Lonsdaleite).

More recently poly(hydridocarbyne) has been synthesized by a much simpler method using electrolysis of chloroform (May 2008) and hexachloroethane (June 2009).

The novelty of PHC (and its related polymer poly(methylsilyne)) is that the polymer may be readily fabricated into various forms (e.g. films, fibers, plates) and then thermolized into a final hexagonal diamond ceramic.

Poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA) is a hydrophobic synthetic acrylate polymer. PMA, though softer than polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), is tough, leathery, and flexible.

It has a low glass-transition temperature about 10°C (12.5°C in case of PMA).

High-energy radiation leads to cross linking in PMA. However in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), a compound similar to PMA, degradation occurs instead.

It is soluble in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). PMA is water-sensitive and unlike PMMA, is not stable against alkalies.

It is used as macroinitiator to initiate the copolymerisation of HEMA and DMAEMA. Also used in leather finishing and textiles.

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) or PEDOT (or sometimes PEDT) is a transparent conducting polymer based on 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene or EDOT monomer. Conductors in this class are employed in LCDs and solar cells, among others uses. Advantages of this polymer are optical transparency in its conducting state, high stability and moderate band gap and low redox potential. A large disadvantage is poor solubility which is partly circumvented in the PEDOT:PSS composite, and the PEDOT-TMA material.

In the field of electroanalysis, conductive polymers are widely employed as coatings conferring the electrode systems antifouling properties and possibly activating electrocatalytic redox processes. Among different conducting polymers, PEDOT has emerged in recent years, thanks to characteristics previously reported. In addition, PEDOT coatings possess high stability over different charge and discharge cycles and can be electrogenerated directly on a conductive support (Pt, Au, glassy carbon, indium tin oxide,…) in organic solvents or in aqueous solution. The enhancement of the electrochemical signals relative to the oxidation of different analytes, when using PEDOT modified electrodes with respect to bare support has been reported in recent publications.

In one study PEDOT nanofibers are produced from vanadium pentoxide nanofibers by a nanofiber seeding method. In this procedure EDOT is dissolved in an aqueous solution of camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) and a vanadium pentoxide nanofiber sol-gel and radical cationic polymerization is initiated by addition of ammonium persulfate. The resulting polymer precipitates from solution and has a general composition (PEDOT)(CSA)-(HSO)(Cl)(HO). Washing with dilute hydrochloric acid removes the vanadium compound. The presence of the vanadium pentoxide seeds make the difference between the formation of PEDOT nanofibers (100 to 180 nanometer diameter and one to several micrometres long) and the formation of a more conventional granular morphology. When applied to a solid substrate such as PET, PEDOT non-woven films have slightly less optical transparency and about half the conductance of commercial PEDOT:PSS / PET films.

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (variously abbreviated PNIPA, PNIPAAm, NIPA, PNIPAA or PNIPAm) is a temperature-responsive polymer that was first synthesized in the 1950s. It can be synthesized from N-isopropylacrylamide which is commercially available. It is synthesized via free radical polymerization and is readily functionalized making it useful in a variety of applications.

It forms a three-dimensional hydrogel when cross-linked with N,N’-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBAm) or N,N’-cystamine-bis-acrylamide (CBAm). When heated in water above , it undergoes a reversible lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase transition from a swollen hydrated state to a shrunken dehydrated state, losing about 90% of its volume. Since PNIPA expels its liquid contents at a temperature near that of the human body, PNIPA has been investigated by many researchers for possible applications in tissue engineering and controlled drug delivery.

Poly(dichlorophosphazene), also called dichlorophosphazine polymer or phosphonitrilechloride polymer, is a chemical compound with formula (PNCl). It is an inorganic (hence carbon-free) polymer, whose backbone is a chain of alternating phosphorus and nitrogen atoms, connected by alternating single and double covalent bonds.

The compound can be prepared by polymerization of hexachlorophosphazene ((PNCl)) by heating to ca. 250 °C. It is an "inorganic rubber" and the starting material for many other polymers with the -P=N- backbone ( polyphosphazenes), which have important commercial uses.

Poly(amidoamine), or PAMAM, is a class of dendrimer which is made of repetitively branched subunits of amide and amine functionality. PAMAM dendrimers, sometimes referred to by the trade name Starburst, have been extensively studied since their synthesis in 1985, and represent the most well-characterized dendrimer family as well as the first to be commercialized. Like other dendrimers, PAMAMs have a sphere-like shape overall, and are typified by an internal molecular architecture consisting of tree-like branching, with each outward 'layer', or generation, containing exponentially more branching points. This branched architecture distinguishes PAMAMs and other dendrimers from traditional polymers, as it allows for low polydispersity and a high level of structural control during synthesis, and gives rise to a large number of surface sites relative to the total molecular volume. Moreover, PAMAM dendrimers exhibit greater biocompatibility than other dendrimer families, perhaps due to the combination of surface amines and interior amide bonds; these bonding motifs are highly reminiscent of innate biological chemistry and endow PAMAM dendrimers with properties similar to that of globular proteins. The relative ease/low cost of synthesis of PAMAM dendrimers (especially relative to similarly-sized biological molecules such as proteins and antibodies), along with their biocompatibility, structural control, and functionalizability, have made PAMAMs viable candidates for application in drug development, biochemistry, and nanotechnology.

Poly(ethylene succinate) (PES) is an aliphatic synthetic polyester with a melting point from 103–106 °C. It is synthesized from dicarboxylic acids; either by ring-opening polymerization of succinic anhydride with ethylene oxide or by polycondensation of succinic acid and ethylene glycol. Thermophilic Bacillus sp. TT96 is found in soil and can degrade PES. Mesophilic PES degrading microorganisms were found in the Bacillus and Paenibacillus species; strain KT102; a relative of Bacillus pumilus was the most capable of degrading PES film. The fungal species NKCM1003 a type of Aspergillus clavatus also degrades PES film.