© Fotomoment001/stock.adobe.com
From sticking to shoes to sneaking it into classrooms, chewing gum is a small but rebellious part of everyday life. Beneath its stretchy texture and minty taste lies the mystery of what you are actually chewing on.
Most chewing gum is made from synthetic polymers like polyisobutylene (PIB, or polyisobutene, Figure 1). Polyisobutylene is formed by addition of isobutylene (or isobutene, also known as 2-methylpropene) monomers in a cationic polymerisation reaction, to form a long hydrocarbon chain.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
