Nature is the original and most prolific polymerizer, creating DNA, proteins, and cellulose.

Long before humans synthesized nylon, biological systems perfected the art of the macromolecule. Every protein in your body is a polymer made from amino acid monomers. DNA is a highly complex copolymer, carrying genetic information along a repeating backbone of sugar and phosphate. Cell walls in plants are built from cellulose, a tough polymer of glucose units that gives trees their structural strength. Without these natural chain-building processes, complex life would be chemically impossible. Nature uses precise enzymatic catalysts to ensure these chains are built without errors, a level of control synthetic chemists still struggle to match.