Edited and written by the "Who's who" in polymer science and technology, this two-volume handbook and ready reference is a must-have compilation on the topic. At once comprehensive and trendy, all relevant topics are covered, with the chapters focusing either on the different types of polymerization reactions, or on the important classes of polymers, or on their applications. The result is an overview that equally provides a generous amount of information on the latest research developments.

A. Dieter Schlüter is since 2004 Professor for polymer chemistry at the Materials Department of the ETH Zürich. Born in Germany, he studied chemistry and geophysics at the University of Munich and received in 1984 his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. G. Szeimies. After post-doctoral fellowships with Prof. K. P. C. Vollhardt (UC Berkeley, USA) and Prof. W. J. Feast (University of Durham, UK) he was head of the polymer synthesis research group in Prof. G. Wegner's department at the Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung (Mainz, Germany). 1991 he finished his habilitation, received a scholarship award of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie and started as Professor for polymer chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe. From 1992 to 2004 he was Full Professor at the Free University of Berlin. Since 2012 he is an elected personal member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. He has served and is still serving on various boards and committees and acted as institute director and department chair. His research interests are in the area of polymer synthesis with a visible component of organic chemistry. Craig J. Hawker, FRS is currently Director of the Materials Research Laboratory and Founding Director of the Dow Materials Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He holds the Alan and Ruth Heeger Chair in Interdisciplinary Science within the Materials, Chemistry and Biochemistry departments at UCSB and is a visiting Chair Professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. He received a B.Sc. degree and University Medal in Chemistry from the University of Queensland in 1984, a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from the University of Cambridge in 1988 under the supervision of Prof. Sir Alan Battersby and undertook post-doctoral training with Prof. Jean Fréchet at Cornell University. From 1993-2004 he was a Research Staff Member at IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA and in addition to a variety of named lectureships, Dr. Hawker is Editor of the Journal of Polymer Science, Polymer Chemistry (Wiley). In 2010, he was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society and his research focuses on the interface between organic and polymer chemistry with emphasis on the design, synthesis, and application of well-defined macromolecular structures in biotechnology, microelectronics and energy applications. Junji Sakamoto is currently Privatdozent at ETH Zurich. Born in Kyoto, Japan in 1973, he studied chemistry and polymer science at Kyoto University, and earned his PhD in 2002 with a thesis on the synthesis of polysaccharides under the supervision of Prof. S. Kobayashi. He carried out his postdoctoral research with Prof. K. Müllen at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, working on the synthesis of polyphenylene-based dendrimers (2002-2004). He then moved to the group of Prof. A. D. Schlüter at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, working on the synthesis of shape-persistent macrocycles, where since 2006 he has been a group leader for the projects of 2D polymer synthesis, Suzuki polycondensation and new polymerization methodology leading to unprecedented molecular and supramolecular structures. In 2012, he received his habilitation on macromolecular chemistry at ETH Zurich.

Leseprobe

Foreword Industrial view on the importance of polymer synthesis Metallocene polymerization Living radical polymerization (without RAFT) Reversible addition fragmentation chain trafnsfer polymerization (RAFT) Anionic polymerization Cationic polymerization Ring-Opening metathesis polymerization Acyclic Diene Metathesis Acyclic Diyne metathesis polym. (ADIMET) Suzuki polycondensation Kumada polycondensation (focus on polythiophene) Branched and cyclic Oligothiophenes Enzymatic polymerization Topochemical polymerization Organic/inorganic hybrid polymers Monodisperse oligomers Foldamers Chiral polymers Dendronized polymers Bottle-brushes Star and dendrimer-like polymers Accelerated Approaches to dendrimers Hyperbranched polymers Cyclic polymers 2D polymers Cyclodehydrogentation in macromolecular synthesis Poly(para-phenylene-vinylene)s (emphasis on Gilch mechanism) Click in polymer synthesis (emphasis on Huisgen- and thiol) Synthetic polymers with controlled secondary and higher order structures Synthesis of and with single macromolecules on solid substrates Carbenes in Polymer Synthesis Polymerization in confined geometries Block copolymers (focus on synthesis!) Supramolecular polymers (through hydrogen bonding) DNA Nanoconstructions Self-assembly towards artificial pores Functionalized supramolecular tubes from designed monomers (through stacking) Porous organic materials Polyrotaxanes Miniemulsion polymerization Emulsion polymerization Microreactors in polymer synthesis Polymer brushes Polymers for Biomedical Applications Polymers for electroptical applications New Conjugated Polymers and Synthetic Methods