Dispersity in polymer science (IUPAC recommendations 2009)

Abstract

This recommendation defines just three terms, viz., (1) molar-mass dispersity, relative-molecular-mass dispersity, or molecular-weight dispersity; (2) degree-of-polymerization dispersity; and (3) dispersity. "Dispersity" is a new word, coined to replace the misleading, but widely used term "polydispersity index" for M̄w/ M̄n and X̄x/X̄n. The document, although brief, also has a broader significance in that it seeks to put the terminology describing dispersions of distributions of properties of polymeric (and non-polymeric) materials on an unambiguous and justifiable footing. © 2009 IUPAC.