Contemporary Science of Polymeric Materials

This volume presents the latest research in the contemporary science of polymeric materials. The chapters in this volume are representative of the contributions presented at a symposium, "Contemporary Science of Polymeric Materials" held in Valletta, Malta, February 28 - March 2, 2009 on the occasion of 75th birthday of Frank E. Karasz. Its fifteen chapters cover polymers for environmentally sustainable applications, polymers in the nano/bio/info technology revolution, self-assembly and polymer networks, and simulation and modeling in polymer science.PREFACE; POLYMERS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE APPLICATIONS; 1. SUGAR-BASED CHEMICALS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE APPLICATIONS; XIANHONG FENG, ANTHONY J. EAST, WILLIS HAMMOND, AND MICHAEL JAFFE; 2. NOVEL THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS BASED ON METHYL-12-HYDROXY STEARATE; OMPRAKASH S. YEMUL AND ZORAN S. PETROVI?; 3. NATURAL FIBERS PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, AND APPLICATION: INVENTORY AND FUTURE PROSPECTS; RYSZARD M. KOZLOWSKI, MARIA MACKIEWICZ-TALARCZYK, AND JORGE BARRIGA-BEDOYA; 4. IMMOBILIZED FLAVOURZYME ON CHITOSAN BEADS FOR SEASONING SAUCE PRODUCTION: COVALENT BINDING VS ENTRAPMENT; NANTHIYA HANSUPALAK, PARICHART KITSONGSERMTHON, AND RATANA JIRARATANANON; POLYMERS IN THE NANO/BIO/INFO TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION; 5. TRIPHILIC BLOCK COPOLYMERS: SYNTHESIS, AGGREGATION BEHAVIOR AND INTERACTIONS WITH PHOSPHOLIPID MEMBRANES; S. O. KYEREMATENG, C. SCHWIEGER, A. BLUME, AND J. KRESSLER; 6. POLYMER BLENDS FROM OPTOELECTRONICS TO SPINTRONICS; LIANG YAN, YUE WU, AND BIN HU; 7. PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HYDROGELS OF SEVERAL POLYSACCARIDES FOR BIOMATERIALS APPLICATIONS; AYSE Z. AROGUZ, KEMAL BAYSAL, AND BAHATTIN M. BAYSAL; 8. CHARACTERIZATION OF POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE)/BENTONITE NANOCOMPOSITE PREPARED VIA MELT BLENDING METHOD; SELCAN KARAKUS, JAROSLAVA BUDINSKI-SIMENDIC, LJLJIANA KORUGIC-KARASZ, AND AYSE Z. AROGUZ; SELF-ASSEMBLY AND POLYMER NETWORKS; 9. SUPRAMOLECULAR TRIBLOCK COPOLYMER COMPLEXES; GERRIT TEN BRINKE, GERRIT GOBIUS DU SART, IVANA VUKOVIC, EVGENY POLUSHKIN, AND KATJA LOOS; 10. STRUCTURE AND SORPTION PROPERTIES OF SYNDIOTACTIC POLYSTYRENE AEROGELS; CHRISTOPHE DANIEL AND GAETANO GUERRA; 11. STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF DANGLING CHAIN POLY(URETHANE-ISOCYANURATE) MODEL NETWORKS; J. BUDINSKI-SIMENDI?, M. %SPIRKOVA, J. PAVLI?EVI?, J. %SOMVARSKY, K. MESZAROS SZECSENYI, AND K. DU%SEK; 12. THE EFFECT OF FILLER PARTICLES ON THE PROPERTIES OF ELASTOMERIC MATERIALS BASED ON DIFFERENT NETWORK PRECURSORS; VOJISLAV JOVANOVI?, JAROSLAVA BUDINSKI-SIMENDI?, JELENA MILI?, AYSE AROGUZ, IVAN RISTI?, SLOBODAN PRENDZOV, AND LJILJANA KORUGIC-KARASZ; SIMULATION AND MODELING IN POLYMER SCIENCE; 13. MOLECULAR-LEVEL DEFORMATIONS IN AUXETIC ORGANIC NETWORKED POLYMERS; JOSEPH N. GRIMA, RUBEN GATT, DAPHNE ATTARD, AND RICHARD N. CASSAR; 14. PSEUDO-BLEND MODEL OF HYDROGEL IMMOBILIZED LIVING CELLS; M. B. PLAVSIC, I. PAJIC-LIJAKOVIC, B. BUGARSKI, J. BUDINSKI-SIMENDIC, V. NEDOVIC, AND P. PUTANOV; 15. INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BIOPOLYMERS AND POLYSILOXANES: A THEORETICAL STUDY; EUFROZINA A. HOFFMANN, LJILJANA S. KORUGIC-KARASZ, ZOLTAN A. FEKETE, AND TAMAS KORTVELYESI; INDEXES; AUTHOR INDEX; SUBJECT INDEX