反应（3.1）说明前一种形式，而反应（3.2）具有后一种形式。

图3.1 逐步聚合的示意图

（a） 未反应单体；（b）50%已反应；（c）83.3%已反应；(d) 100%已反应（虚线表示反

应种类）

Polyesterification, whether between diol and dibasic acid or intermolecularly

between hydroxy acid molecules, is an example of a step-growth polymerization process. The esterification reaction occurs anywhere in the monomer matrix where two monomer molecules collide, and once the ester has formed, it, too, can react further by virtue of its still-reactive hydroxyl or carboxyl groups. The net effect of this is that monomer molecules are consumed rapidly without any large increase in molecular weight. Fig. 3.1 illustrates this phenomenon. Assume, for example, that each square in Fig. 3.a represents a molecule of hydroxy acid. After the initial dimmer molecules from (b), half the monomer molecules have been consumed and the average degree of polymerization (DP) of polymeric species is 2. As trimer and more dimer molecules form (c), more than 80% of the monomer molecules have reacted (d), DP is 4. But each polymer molecule that forms still has reactive end groups; hence the polymerization reaction will continue in a stepwise fashion, with each esterification of monomers. Thus, molecular weight increases slowly even at high levels of monomer conversion, and it will continue to increase until the viscosity build-up makes it mechanically too difficult to remove water of esterification or for reactive end groups to find each other.

聚酯化，是否在二元酸和二元醇或羟基酸分子间进行，是逐步聚合反应过程的一个

例子。酯化反应出现在单体本体中两个单体分子相碰撞的位置，且酯一旦形成，依靠酯上仍有活性的羟基或羧基还可以进一步进行反应。酯化的结果是单体分子很快地被消耗掉，而分子量却没有多少增加。图3.1说明了这个现象。例如，假定图3.1中的每一个方格代表一个羟基酸分子。（b）中的二聚体分子，消耗二分之一的单体分子聚合物种类的聚合度（DP）是2。（c）中当三聚体和更多的二聚体形成，大于80%的单体分子已反应，但DP仅仅还是2.5。（d）中当所有的单体反应完，DP是4。但形成的每一种聚合物分子还有反应活性的端基；因此，聚合反应将以逐步的方式继续进行，其每一步酯化反应的反应速率和反应机理均与初始单体的酯化作用相同。因此，分子量缓慢增加直至高水平的单体转化率，而且分子量将继续增加直到粘度的增加使其难以除去酯化反应的水或难以找到相互反应