Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews
Applied Polymer Science: 21st Century edited by Clara D. Craver and Charles E. Carraher, Jr. Elsevier Science Ltd.: Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2000. xiv + 1072 pp. ISBN 0-08-043417 7. $225. reviewed by Shawn B. Allin
Applied Polymer Science: 21st Century is an impressive tome that highlights traditional and emerging areas of polymer science and celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) of the American Chemical Society. The book is divided into six sections with a total of 47 chapters. Section titles include Introduction, Polymer Science and Technology, Coatings, New Materials, Spectroscopic and Physical Characterization, and Polymerization and Polymerization Mechanisms. The sections range from four to 17 chapters. The Introduction section includes these chapters: History of the American Chemical Society Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering; Introduction to Polymer Science and Technology; Polymer Nomenclature; and Polymer Education. While the first and fourth chapters will mainly be of interest to PSME members, the second and third are excellent primers for the material that follows. The section on Polymer Science and Technology is the book’s largest and most diverse. Its 17 chapters include Polymer Chain Configurations: Measurement and Applications; Polyolefins; Styrene Polymers and Copolymers; Poly(vinyl chloride); Plasticizers; Engineering Thermoplastics; Thermoset Plastics; Thermoset Elastomers; Thermoplastic Elastomers and Applications; Fibers; Adhesive and Sealant Chemistry; Industrially Important Polysaccharides; Electrically Conducting Polymers; History and Development of Polymer Blends and IPNS; Polymer Processing; Fire and Polymers; Epoxy Resins; and Developments in the Commercialization of Water Soluble Polymer. Coatings are covered by the inclusion of eight chapters titled History of Coatings; High Performance Industrial Coatings; Advances in Alkyd Resins; White Pigments; Colored Organic Pigments; Solvents in Today’s Coatings; Rheology and Coating Flows; and Water-Borne Coatings. Combined, they form an excellent introduction to the coating field for the nonexpert. The New Materials section is a catchall that is edited in a slightly different manner from the rest of the book. Instead of distinct chapters dealing with each topic, three entries,
Polymer Materials for Microelectronics Imaging Applications, Polymers for Electronic Packaging in the 21st Century, and Organometallic and Metal-Containing Organic Polymers— An Overview, are supplemented with an extremely diverse, 13-author chapter titled New Materials for the 21st Century. Essentially, this chapter consists of nine sub-chapters ranging from computer modeling to synthesis and processing. Tapping experts in the field to write these two- to five-page summaries is one of the book’s strengths. The section on polymer characterization is comprehensive with chapters devoted to FTIR, NMR, Raman, mass spectrometry, fluorescence, and particle-size distribution in addition to thermal and dynamic mechanical properties. Each chapter reviews the current state of the art and clearly indicates the advantages and limitations of the technique. The final section, Polymerization and Polymerization Mechanism, covers the expected topics in chapters entitled Free Radical Polymerization; Step-Growth Polymerization; Ionic Polymerization; and An Overview of Transition MetalMediated Polymerizations: Catalysts for the 21st Century. One highlight in this section is the excellent discussion of controlled radical polymerization by Matyjaszewski and Gaynor. The strength of Applied Polymer Science: 21st Century lies in the diversity of its chapters and the style in which they are written. All too often collected works contain chapters dealing with a topic in minutiae, thus rendering it inaccessible to nonexperts. Thankfully, the 70 contributing authors have produced monographs that are accessible to practicing chemists and chemical engineers, in addition to doing justice to the individual topics. The inclusion of a comprehensive keyword index further increases the utility of this collection. Of course, no one should expect a comprehensive discussion of any of the aforementioned topics in an average of just 21 pages per chapter. The collection of 47 highly readable review articles in a single volume makes Applied Polymer Science: 21st Century an excellent resource. While its breadth makes it unsuitable for use as a text, it will be a valuable addition to the shelf of anyone interested in modern applications of polymer science. Additionally, libraries would be well advised to obtain a copy to provide their patrons with an excellent introduction to a variety of topics. Shawn B. Allin is in the Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL 36608;
[email protected].
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Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 79 No. 8 August 2002 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
