| Abstract: | A method is presented to theoretically estimate the conformational entropy ΔSc of fusion of polymer chains of any stereochemical constitution. The effect of the type of crystalline conformation and the conformational energy differences on ΔSc is discussed with examples. The dependence of ΔSc on the configurational partition function is traced. A method for theoretically evaluating the melting temperature of a polymer from its conformational characteristics is presented. The application of the method to a total of 11 polymers leads to good agreement between the calculated and experimental values of the melting temperatures. |
