As with most areas, the language of the area is important. Here we will focus on naming
polymers with the emphasis on synthetic polymers. Short presentations on how to name
proteins and nucleic acids are given in Chapter 10 and for nylons in Chapter 5.
The fact that synthetic polymer science grew in many venues before nomenclature groups
were present to assist in standardization of the naming approach resulted in many popular
polymers having several names including common names. Many polymer scientists have not
yet accepted the guidelines given by the official naming committee of the International Union
of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), because the common names have gained such
widespread acceptance. Although there is a wide diversity in the practice of naming polymers,
we will concentrate on the most utilized systems.