Question

The monomer used to prepare Orlon is

• A. Vinyl chloride
• B. Tetrafluoroethylene
• C. Acrylonitrile
• D. Styrene

Hint:

Important commercial polymer names:

• Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) \(\rightarrow\) Orlon / Acrilan
• Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) \(\rightarrow\) Teflon
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) \(\rightarrow\) PVC plastic
• Polystyrene (PS) \(\rightarrow\) Styron

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Concept:
Many synthetic fibres are produced through addition polymerization of vinyl monomers. Orlon is the commercial name of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), a polymer formed by the polymerization of acrylonitrile.
Step 1: {Identify the polymer.} Orlon is a synthetic fibre made from polyacrylonitrile. Therefore, its repeating unit comes from the monomer acrylonitrile.
Step 2: {Write the structure of the monomer.} Acrylonitrile (also called vinyl cyanide) has the structure: \[ CH_2 = CH - CN \]
Step 3: {Polymerization reaction.} During addition polymerization, many molecules of acrylonitrile combine to form polyacrylonitrile: \[ n\,CH_2 = CHCN \xrightarrow{\text{Polymerization}} -[CH_2 - CH(CN)]_n- \] This polymer is commercially known as Orlon.
Step 4: {Conclusion.} Hence, the monomer used in the preparation of Orlon is: \[ \text{Acrylonitrile} \]