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The biological and biomedical applications of polymeric materials have increased greatly in the past few years. This book will detail some, but not all, of these recent developments. There would not be enough space in this book to cover, even lightly, all of the major advances that have occurred. Some earlier books and summaries are available by two of this book's Editors (Gebelein & Carraher) and these should be consul ted for additional information. The books are: "Bioactive Polymeric Systems" (Plenum, 1985); "Polymeric Materials In Medication" (Plenum, 1985); "Biological Acti vi ties of Polymers" (American Chemical Society, 1982). Of these three, "Bioacti ve Polymeric Systems" should be t...
The vast array of libraries in the world bear mute witness to the truth of the 3000-year-old observation of King Solomon who stated " ... of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh." Yet books are an essential written record of our lives and the progress of science and humanity. Here is another book to add to this huge collection, but, hopefully, not just another collection of pages, but rather a book with a specific purpose to aid in alleviating the "weariness of the flesh" that could arise from much studying of other journals and books in order to obtain the basic information contained herein. This book is about polymeric materials and biological activ...
Some have predicted that the coming several decades will be the decades of "biotechnology," wherein cancer, birth defects, life span increases, cosmetics, biodegradation, oil spills and exploration, solid waste disposal, and almost every aspect of our material life will be affected by this new area of science. There will also be an extension of emphasis on giant molecules: DNA, enzymes, polysaccharides, lignins, proteins, hemoglobin, and many others. Biotechnology has been defined in various ways. In one sense, this field is older than human history and references to the human use of biotechnology-derived materials can be found in the oldest human writings, such as the Bible. In this book, b...
Interest in preparing new polymers peaked about 1966. Since that time, industrial and government support for the synthesis and study of new polymers has steadily declined. Gone are the good days when government funds supported a great push to attain ulti mate thermal stability for organic polymeric materials. Gone are the good days when many chemical companies, encouraged by the obvious potential for rewards, had great interest and provided support for preparing new polymers. We now often hear managers say "we have enough polymers" or "all we need to do is find additional and better ways to use existing polymers. " The latter often in cludes the statement, "we can get the new materials that ...
Phase transfer catalysis or interfacial catalysis is a syn thetic technique involving transport of an organic or inorganic salt from a solid or aqueous phase into an organic liquid where reaction with an organic-soluble substrate takes place. Over the past 15 years there has been an enormous amount of effort invested in the development of this technique in organic synthe sis. Several books and numerous review articles have appeared summarizing applications in which low molecular weight catalysts are employed. These generally include either crown ethers or onium salts of various kinds. While the term phase transfer catalysis is relatively new, the concept of using a phasetrans fer agent (PTA)...
The term biotechnology has emerged on the contemporary scene fairly recently, but the basic concept of utilizing natural materials, either directly or in modified versions, dates back to antiquity. If we search the ancient literature, such as the Bible, we find hundreds of examples wherein people employed, or modified, natural materials for a variety of important uses. As far back as the days of Noah we find pitch, a natural material, being used as a caulk. Clothing was made from animal skins and the products of several plants. Today, we would consider these things as important biotechnological developments. Likewise, the human use of polymeric materials also has a long his tory. In fact, ma...
The term biomimetic is comparatively new on the chemical scene, but the concept has been utilized by chemists for many years. Furthermore, the basic idea of making a synthetic material that can imitate the func tions of natural materials probably could be traced back into antiquity. From the dawn of creation, people have probably attempted to duplicate or modify the activities of the natural world. (One can even find allusions to these attempts in the Bible; e. g. , Genesis 30. ) The term "mimetic" means to imitate or mimic. The word "mimic" means to copy closely, or to imitate accurately. Biomimetic, which has not yet entered most dictionaries, means to imitate or mimic some specific bio lo...
This book contains the collected papers presented at the Inter national Symposium on Polymers in Medicine, Biomedical and Pharma cological Applications, which was held at Porto Cervo, Italy, May 24-28, 1982. To the best of our knowledge, this symposium was the first to be organized in Italy entirely devoted to the several aspects of the use of synthetic and semisynthetic macromolecular materials in the field of biomedical and pharmacological applications. The inten~ tion of the Organizing Committee of the symposium was the promotion of a scientific and cultural initiative to gain the attention of various experts in line research of the potential of suitably de signed "man-made" polymeric materials in biomedical applications. With highly qualified and worldwide attendance, the above goal was fully satisfied. Indeed the opportunity of meeting to gether in a well conceived and discreet corner of the world, scien tists with different cultural backgrounds and objectives helped ex tend the meaning of the symposium far beyond the Italian borders and the perspectives of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) , the major sponsor of the meeting.
In the first half of this century, great strides were made in under standing the behavior of polymers in dilute solutions or in the solid state. Concentrated solutions, on the other hand, were commonly regarded as mainly of interest to practitioners, being too complex for the rigorous application of statistical theory. Given the preoccupation with the isolated polymer molecule and the attendant focus on the state of infinite dilution, it is not surprising that aggregation, and inter-polymer associ ation in general, was the bugaboo of experimentalists. These attitudes have changed remarkably over the last few decades. The application of sealing theory to polymer solutions has stimulated inves...