Title: cationic polymer
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - cationic polymer
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.CT07200
Status: current

Definition
Polymer composed of positively charged macromolecules and an equivalent amount of counter-anions.

Notes
1) If a substantial fraction of constitutional units carries positive charges, then a cationic polymer is a polyelectrolyte.
2) The positive charges may be fixed on groups located in main chains as in an ionene or in pendant groups.
3) The term cationic polymer should not be used to denote a polymer prepared by cationic polymerization.

Related Terms
- cationic polymerization: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C00910
- ionene: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/IT07210
- polyelectrolyte: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/P04728

Source
- PAC, 2006, 78, 2067. 'Terminology of polymers containing ionizable or ionic groups and of polymers containing ions (IUPAC Recommendations 2006)' on page 2069 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200678112067)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/CT07200/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/CT07200/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/CT07200/xml

Citation: Citation: 'cationic polymer' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.CT07200
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Accessed: 2026-04-20T22:38:01+00:00