Answers by visitors named: Doc048

Many polymers can be synthesized in the lab, but to produce commercial quantities requires special engineering considerations. That is, what typically works in the lab doesn't always work in the scaled up version.

Polymers can be synthesized containing highly electronegative components such as amide linkages. These structures can interact with water by forming physical 'hydrogen bonds'. The H-Bond is an electrostatic interaction between a highly electronegative element and hydrogen such that the hydrogen (say in water) is also covalently bonded to a highly electronegative element, oxygen. => -CONH- => Amide link ... The electronegative carbonyl oxygen will attract the electopositive hydrogen of water forming the H-Bond. High molecular weight structures in water are very 'hydroscopic' polymeric systems that absorb large quanties of water at the polymer surface and at a moderate distance from the polymeric surface. This in turn accounts for the high viscosity (thickness) of such systems in water. Small amounts result in a significant increase in viscosity. Some liquid soaps contain small quantities of Hydroxyethyl Cellulose as a thickening agent along with detergent and antibacterial agents for disinfecting.