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Concept

polyisoprene

A hexagonal molecular structure with spherical nodes connected by linear segments, representing the polyisoprene molecule, which forms the basis of natural rubber's elasticity.

The long-chain hydrocarbon polymer that gives natural rubber its elasticity. Each isoprene unit contains a carbon-carbon double bond, and it is at these bonds that sulfur attaches during vulcanization. Synthetic polyisoprene, first produced in the 1950s, approaches but does not match the mechanical properties of the tree-tapped version, partly because of stereochemical differences too subtle to fully replicate.

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