Any of several natural or synthetic colloidal suspensions (see colloid ).
Some latexes occur naturally in the cells of plants such as chicle and resins , fats , or waxes and, in some instances, poisonous compounds, suspended in a watery medium with dissolved salts, sugars, tannins, alkaloids, enzymes, and other substances from which the latex (or natural rubber , the only available rubber until 1926) can be concentrated, coagulated, and vulcanized. Synthetic latexes (e.g., neoprene ), made by emulsion polymerization from styrene-butadiene copolymer, acrylate resins, polyvinyl acetate, or other materials, are used as paints and coatings; the {{link=plastics">plastic , dispersed in the water, forms films by fusion as the water evaporates.