Dissemination of IT for the Promotion of Materials Science (DoITPoMS)

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Stereoregularity

Also known as tacticity, this property describes the regularity of the side group orientations on the backbone. The tacticity of a polymer has important implications for its degree of long-range order.

The side groups of isotactic polymers all have the same orientation:

Diagram of isotactic polymer

Syndiotactic polymers have alternating arrangements of side-groups:

Diagram of syniotactic polymer

In atactic polymers the side-group orientations are random along the chain.

Diagram of atactic polymer