Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 3 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / Paper 3 / 50 / b

Radical polymerization, a type of chain-growth polymerization. Peroxide bond cleavage initiates reactive chains; propagation adds monomer to a radical end while regenerating a radical end on the longer chain. Termination and chain transfer can then stop or redirect growth. In the propagation step there is no obligatory small-molecule condensate, so this is not a step-growth condensation.