Branching (polymer chemistry) Branching (polymer chemistry) In polymer chemistry, branching occurs by the replacement of a substituent, e.g., a hydrogen atom, on a monomer subunit, by another covalently bonded chain of that polymer; or, in the case of a graft copolymer, by a chain of another type. Branched polymers have more compact and symmetrical molecular conformations, and exhibit intra-heterogeneous dynamical behavior with respect to the unbranched polymers. In crosslinking rubber by vulcanization, short sulfur branches link polyisoprene chains (or a synthetic variant) into a multiply branched thermosetting elastomer. Rubber can also be so completely vulcanized that it becomes a rigid solid, so hard
Sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (also sulphur dioxide in British English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic gas with a burnt match smell. It is released naturally by volcanic activity and is produced as a by-product of the burning of fossil fuels contaminated with sulfur compounds and copper extraction. SO is a bent molecule with "C" symmetry point group. A valence bond theory approach considering just "s" and "p" orbitals would describe the bonding in terms of resonance between two resonance structures. The sulfur–oxygen bond has a bond order of 1.5. There is support for