Depolymerization

The term depolymerization expresses the ( spontaneous ) decay or degradation of a polymer. It is the inversion of the polymerization and only occurs no side reaction when the side chains are significantly more stable than the main chain of the polymer.

Living polymers

The depolymerization can occur spontaneously in living polymers ( biopolymers ).

This is for example in the movement of cells which are moved with the aid of actin filaments of the case. Through the consumption of high-energy phosphates, the polymer compounds can be specifically cleaved ( = depolymerization ) and are thus available for further polymerization.

Other polymers

Here initially bonds must be cleaved in the main chain homolytically in an initiation step, this case runs in almost all cases by a free radical mechanism from.

At each cleavage of the polymer chain a single monomer is formed, unless it forms a dimer. The probability that cleaves a polymer increases with higher molecular weight. The kinetics of the depolymerization depends inter alia on the temperature and the molecular weight distribution.

• Chemical Reaction
• Biophysics