Development of a quantitative theory of polycondensation

This review presents the first systematic treatment of the voluminous literature on the theory of polycondensation. Processes for obtaining homo- and copolymers with linear and branched macromolecules are considered. Emphasis is on a thorough discussion of various polycondensation models, and the methods of their solution for the calculation of the statistical characteristics of the chemical structure of polymers. The effects on these characteristics of the process modes for thermodynamically and kinetically controlled regimes of a polycondensation are analyzed in detail. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.