Biological Activities of Polymers Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by KAOHSIUNG MEDICAL UNIV on 11/08/18. For personal use only.
PREFACE Biologically active polymers serve as the basis of life and have existed since the beginning of the first forms of life in an aqueous medium. The major macromolecular entities of all living creatures, both animal and plant, are biologically active polymers: proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides. The recognition that some synthetic polymers also exhibit biological activity is of a more recent vintage. The term "biologically active polymers" or "bioactive polymers" encompasses synthetic and natural polymers (native or modified) capable of eliciting a physiological response when applied to or introduced into a living system. The utilization of the biological activities of these natural and/or synthetic polymers is a major and growing area of scientific endeavor (molecular engineering, polymeric drugs, etc.) and is the basis for this book. The chapters of this volume were chosen to illustrate the broad spectrum of research currently being undertaken related to the biological activities of macromolecules. The initial chapter introduces the basic framework relating the biological activity of polymers to the test conditions, etc., and emphasizes the need to design tests for each specific purpose (i.e., match the tests with the potential end use of the bioactive polymer). The remainder of the book is divided into three sections, each focusing on the current state of the art in particular areas of biological activity. The first section considers a broad range of nonmedical applications, including treatment of wood, control of uranyl ion toxicity, and control of schistosomiasis-carrying snails. Also discussed are polymers acting as herbicides, pesticides, mildew- and rot-resisting agents, mollusicides, algicides, antifungal agents, and antibacterial agents. The final two sections focus on some medically related applications of bioactive polymers, including targeting and controlled release of drugs. Types of polymer supports and structure-activity relationships are also well represented. The section on drug-related activity also contains chapters on polymer activity as applied to the treatment of specific diseases, and on the emergence of thermal analysis techniques to describe biological activities of polymers more rapidly. The last section is based on applications of biologically active polymers in the broad area of cancer research. Antitumor and antiviral activities are featured along with discussions involving the advantages of polymeric anticancer drugs over the low molecular weight analogous drugs. ix
We thank the authors for preparing the various manuscripts in this book and also, in some cases, for acting as reviewers. We also thank the Division of Organic Coatings and Plastics Chemistry for its help and encouragement in carrying out this project. In addition, we are grateful to the following who assisted in manuscript preparation, review, and general criticism: Waris Baig, Charles Carraher III, William Feld, Subrata Ghosh, Robert Hartsough, James Kane, David Karl, Robert Patsiga, and John Sheats. Finally, we thank our families for their support. CHARLES E. CARRAHER, JR.
Wright State University Department of Chemistry Dayton, Ohio 45435 CHARLES G. GEBELEIN
Youngstown State University Department of Chemistry Youngstown, Ohio 44555 November 6, 1981.
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