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Symposium on Polymer Surfaces: Introduction In the 1820sand 183Os,Johann Dtibereiner and Michael Faraday gave us descriptions of the reactions that occur on platinum surfaces and a qualitative theory of platinum surfaces as catalysts. Sincethen, the surface literature has been dominated by metallic and inorganic materials. Such systems are characterized by high chemical reactivities, significant commercial importance, and relatively immobile lattice atoms that are amenable to geometricdefinition, modeling, and study. Through most of this 170-year period, the seeminglylow reactivity of organicsurfaces,their impossibly untidy surface organization, and the lack of a clear commercial incentive for their study relegated their investigation to an occasional article in one of a few journals that would publish such fringe material. In the last 10 years, however, a blossoming of interest in organic and polymeric surfaces has taken place. It is worthwhile asking why the upsurge in interest in organic, and particularly polymeric, surfaces. First, their commercial importance has been steadily increasing. Second, the study of natural and artificial enzymes has made it abundantly clear that organic surfaces can have tremendously high reactivities. Third, organicsurfaces with high degrees of order can now be routinely synthesized. Finally,there are new analytical tools available that allow us to study these admittedly complex systems. The ACS Macromolecular Secretariat Symposium on Polymer Surfaces, held in Boston, April 23-26,1990, served as a compelling reminder of the intensified interest in polymeric and organicsurfaces. With over 50 lectures presented, and with, at times, 300 attendees in the lecture hall, the study of polymeric surfaces received a vote of confidence. A theme that permeated these sessions was the exciting new methods that might be used to probe mobile, fragile organic surfaces. The articles in this Langmuir issue, based upon some of the talks presented during the symposium,emphasize these newer methods. The analytical techniques were largely borrowed from the physics and microelectronicscommunity. However,they are applied here to heterogeneoussystems with characteristicsthat would certainlytrouble the classicalsurfacephysicist-textured systems, hydrated systems, contaminated surfaces, mobile surfaces-as one author called them, “real surfaces”. The study of organic and polymeric surfaces will continue to grow. It is desirable that the American Chemical Society take a leadership role in encouraging this development. The appearance of this important collection of articles on polymeric surfaces in so influential a journal as Langmuir will serve to stimulate further interest in polymer surfaces. We watch with excitement the blossomingof the atudy of organic or polymeric surfacesinto a field that may someday rival the study of inorganicsurfaces. Polymer surface developments important for biotechnology, biomaterials, nanoelectronics, materials science, and catalysis may evolve from this symposium, and we, as coorganizersfor two of the divisions,can have a small measure of satisfaction in knowing we have made a contribution to this growth. The most important contribution, though, comes from the excellent presenters who demonstrated that polymeric surfaces can be characterized, understood, and systematically engineered to address specificneeds.
Buddy D. Ratner David L. Allara
0743-7463/91/2407-2432$02.50/00 1991 American Chemical Society
