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                       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:     13 April 1997

     The Committee continues to promote polymer-nomenclature recommendations,
in particular, those of the IUPAC Commission on Macromolecular Nomenclature.
The IUPAC Commission published two documents in the December 1996 issue of
PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY:

      (i) "Glossary of Basic Terms in Polymer Science",

     (ii) "Definitions of Terms Relating to Degradation, Aging, and
             Chemical Transformations of Polymers".

The third document, "Source-Based Nomenclature for Non-Linear Macromolecules",
was submitted for publication and should appear shortly.

     Our members continue to represent the U.S. polymer science community on
the IUPAC Commission on Macromolecular Nomenclature and participate in the
generation and review of their new documents.  One project in particular,
"Glossary of Polymer Class Names", is of interest to, and received support of,
several U.S. publishers of polymer textbooks and encyclopedias.  Such an
authoritative source is needed for authors and editors.

     The Committee published in the April 1997 issue of POLYMER PREPRINTS
"Macromolecular Nomenclature Note No. 12" written by K. Matyjaszewski and
A. H. E. Muller on "Naming of Controlled, Living and 'Living' Polymerizations",
which constitutes a proposal to improve communication in this field.

     The Committee has a WWW page associated with the POLY 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 a list of "Valid Recommendations on
Macromolecular Terminology and Nomenclature".

     A selected slate of terms with their definitions (based on the recently
published IUPAC Glossary) was submitted for publication in the forthcoming
new edition of the CRC HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.

     Questions coming from journal editors and authors related to
macromolecular nomenclature were promptly answered.

     The Committee continues to be represented on the ACS Committee on
Nomenclature and is making sure that recommendations on macromolecular
nomenclature are included in the revised guidelines for authors of papers
submitted to the ACS journals.
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