Preface Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green polymer chemistry is an extension of green chemistry to polymer science and engineering. Developments in this area have been stimulated by health and environmental concerns, interest in sustainability, desire to decrease the dependence on petroleum, and opportunities to design and produce “green” products and processes. It has become an active and viable field in its own right and continues to attract attention from researchers and manufacturers. A current feature of green polymer chemistry is that it is both global and multidisciplinary. Thus, publications in this field are spread out over different journals in different countries. Moreover, a successful research effort may involve collaborations of people in various disciplines, such as organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, material science, chemical engineering, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, enzymology, toxicology, environmental science, and analytical chemistry. It is important for workers in this field to communicate and share information through meetings, symposia, and books. In view of the trends and the advances in this field, we organized an international symposium on “Green Polymer Chemistry: Biobased Materials and Biocatalysis” at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in San Francisco, California, in August 2014. The symposium was very successful, with a total of 77 presentations and 23 posters. Most of the leading researchers in this field attended the symposium. Many exciting findings and techniques were reported in numerous areas, including new uses of biobased feedstock, green reactions, green processing methodologies, and green polymeric products. In view of the success of the San Francisco symposium, we asked many of the symposium participants to contribute chapters to this book, where they either reported original results or wrote special reviews of their ongoing work. Because this field covers many disciplines, we believe there is value in having a book that pulls together all relevant topics in one place. Whereas almost all aspects of green polymer chemistry are included in this book, a particular emphasis has been placed on biobased materials and biocatalysis. We hope this book provides a good representation of what is happening in the forefront of research in green polymer chemistry. This book is targeted for scientists, engineers, and students, who are involved or interested in green polymer chemistry. These may include chemists, biochemists, material scientists, chemical engineers, microbiologists, molecular biologists, enzymologists, toxicologists, environmental scientists, and analytical chemists. It can be a textbook for a course on green chemistry and also a reference xi
book for people who need information on specific topics involving biocatalysis and biobased materials. We thank the authors for preparing their manuscripts and the reviewers for their patience during the peer review process. Assistance from the ACS Books staff (particularly Caitlyn Matuska, Tim Marley, Arlene Furman, and Bob Hauserman) is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry, Inc., for sponsoring the 2014 symposium.
H. N. Cheng Southern Regional Research Center USDA – Agricultural Research Service 1100 Robert E. Lee Blvd. New Orleans, Louisiana 70124
Richard A. Gross Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street Troy, New York 12180
Patrick B. Smith Michigan Molecular Institute 1910 West St Andrews Road Midland, Michigan 48640
xii
