Latex

Latex is a stable aqueous dispersion of polymer particles and other substances, produced naturally by certain plants and animals or made synthetically.

Laticifer: A specialized plant cell or tube that produces or stores latex. Laticifers are the structures that synthesize and contain latex in many plants.
Polymer: A large molecule made of repeating chemical units joined into chains or networks. Natural latex contains polymer particles, especially chains of cis-1,4-polyisoprene.
Hevea brasiliensis: A tropical tree cultivated as the principal commercial source of natural rubber. Its tapped sap supplies most natural rubber latex used in industry.
Synthetic latex: A water-based dispersion of synthetic polymer particles, manufactured rather than collected from organisms. It resembles natural latex as a dispersion but uses industrially synthesized polymers.
Latex coagulation: The destabilization of latex that causes dispersed particles to clump and form a solid. Coagulation turns harvested latex into rubber or other solid products.
Natural rubber: An elastic polymer material composed mainly of cis-1,4-polyisoprene from plant latex. It is the principal solid material obtained from Hevea rubber-tree latex.
Rubber tapping: The controlled cutting of a rubber tree's bark to collect latex from its vessels. Tapping harvests latex while allowing the tree to continue producing it.
Latex allergy: An immune reaction, often IgE-mediated, to proteins present in natural rubber latex. The term latex can imply allergy risk, but synthetic latex generally lacks those natural proteins.
Colloid: A mixture in which particles of one substance remain dispersed throughout another without rapidly settling. Latex is a colloid whose polymer particles remain suspended in water.
Polyisoprene: A polymer made from isoprene units, occurring in natural rubber and several synthetic forms. Polyisoprene is the main polymer dispersed in commercial natural rubber latex.

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