M E M O R A N D U M

TO:       Executive Board of the Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY)

FROM:     W. V. Metanomski

SUBJECT:  Nomenclature Committee's Report

DATE:     7 September 1997


     The Committee continues to promote polymer-nomenclature
recommendations, in
particular, those of the IUPAC Commission on Macromolecular Nomenclature. 
The
most recent document that went through all stages of approval is on
"Source-
Based Nomenclature for Non-Linear Macromolecules".  It is expected to be
published in the December 1997 issue of PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY. 
These
recommendations are of particular interest to the POLY Committee, since
Leslie
H. Sperling, a member of the Committee, was the author of the very first
draft.

     The Committee published in the September 1997 issue of POLYMER
PREPRINTS
"Macromolecular Nomenclature Note No. 13", explaining and promoting the
new
(December 1996) IUPAC "Glossary of Basic Terms in Polymer Science",
especially
the distinction between the "substance" (the "polymer") and the
"macromolecule"
of which the polymer is composed.

     The Committee provided a selected slate of terms with their
definitions,
derived from the IUPAC "Glossary of Basic Terms in Polymer Science", for
publication in the new section "Definitions of Scientific Terms" of the
CRC
HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.  A dozen or so such terms were
included
in the 78th edition (1997-1998) of the HANDBOOK.

     Robert F. Fox, a member of the Committee, published an updated
summary of
the nomenclature rules for naming organic polymers in the CRC POLYMERIC
MATERIALS ENCYCLOPEDIA published in 1996, and in the 77th edition
(1996-1997)
and the 78th edition (1997-1998) of the CRC HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY AND
PHYSICS.

     W. Val Metanomski is preparing an updated introductory chapter on
"Nomenclature" for the 4th edition of Wiley's POLYMER HANDBOOK.

     A new project has been submitted for consideration by the IUPAC
Commission
on Macromolecular Nomenclature, "Glossary of Polymer Class Names", with
the
supporting letters from several U.S. publishers of polymer textbooks and
encyclopedias.  Such an authoritative source is needed for authors and
editors.

    The Committee members continue to represent the U.S. polymer science
community on the IUPAC Commission on Macromolecular Nomenclature and
participate actively in the generation and review of their new documents.

Three Committee members (Fox, Metanomski, and Work) attended this year's
meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1997.

    The Committee continues to be represented on the ACS Committee on
Nomenclature.  W. Val Metanomski is a member of the latter Committee.  He

presented a report on POLY Committee's activities at the ACS Committee's
annual meeting on September 7, 1997, in Las Vegas.

    The Committee has a WWW page associated with the Divisional WWW
pages:

      http://www.chem.umr.edu/~poly/nomenclature.html

which lists the Committee members (links are provided to their full and
e-mail addresses) and provides the list of "Valid Recommendations on
Macromolecular Terminology and Nomenclature".