Nonpolymerisable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Incapable of undergoing polymerization or forming long molecular chains through chemical reactions
2. Resistant to chemical processes that link small molecules into complex macromolecules
3. Unable to participate in the chain reactions that produce repeating molecular structures in materials

Etymology: "Nonpolymerisable" is a plain technical formation, built from "non-", a negating prefix from Latin "non" meaning "not", attached to "polymerisable", which is itself built from the Greek "polymeres" ("having many parts", from "poly" meaning "many" and "meros" meaning "part"). The chemical sense of "polymer" was coined in 1833 by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who used it for compounds sharing the same elemental composition but differing in molecular weight, a meaning later narrowed and extended to the long-chain molecules we know today. The suffix "-able" (from Latin "-abilis", "capable of being") turns the verb "polymerise" into an adjective meaning able to undergo that process, and "non-" reverses it. The result describes a substance whose molecules will not join into chains or networks under the conditions in question. The word is used mainly in chemistry and materials science, where it is useful for distinguishing monomers that can and cannot be made into plastics or resins.

Synonyms: nonpolymerizable

Antonyms: polymerisable, polymerizable