The two volumes "New Developments in Polymer Analytics" deal with recent progress in the characterization of polymers, mostly in solution but also at s- faces. Despite the fact that almost all of the described techniques are getting on in years, the contributions are expected to meet the readers interest because either the methods are newly applied to polymers or the instrumentation has achieved a major breakthrough leading to an enhanced utilizaton by polymer scientists. The first volume concentrates on separation techniques. H. Pasch summarizes the recent successes of multi-dimensional chromatography in the characteri- tion of copolymers. Both, chain length distribution and the compositional h- erogeneity of copolymers are accessible. Capillary electrophoresis is widely and successfully utilized for the characterization of biopolymers, particular of DNA. It is only recently that the technique has been applied to the characterization of water soluble synthetic macromolecules. This contributrion of Grosche and Engelhardt focuses on the analysis of polyelectrolytes by capillary electopho- sis. The last contribution of the first volume by Coelfen and Antonietti sum- rizes the achievements and pitfalls of field flow fractionation techniques. The major drawbacks in the instrumentation have been overcome in recent years and the"triple F techniques" are currently advancing to a powerful competitor to size exclusion chromatography.

This book reviews recent advances in polymer swelling resulting from the use of novel microporous composite films. It offers a new approach to understanding sorption processes in polymer-liquid systems based on the molecular structures of the sorbed molecules and the repeat unit of the sorbent polymer. It is shown how the adsorption parameters obtained in these studies relate meaningfully with the Flory-Huggins interaction parameters. This implies that these adsorption parameters have relevance not only for swelling and drying of polymers, but also for other phenomena in which molecular sorption plays an important role, such as in chromatography and in membrane permeation.

While books have been written on many topics of Polymer Science, no compre hensive treatise on long chain branching has ever been composed. This series of reviews in Volume 142 and 143 of Advances in Polymer Science tries to fill this gap by highlighting active areas of research on branched polymers. Long chain branching is a phenomenon observed in synthetic polymers and in some natural polysaccharides. It has long been recognized as a major mole cular parameter of macromolecules. Its presence was first surmised by H. Stau dinger and G. V. Schuh (Ber. 68, 2320, 1935). Interestingly, their method of iden tification by means of the abnormal relation between intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight has survived to this day. Indeed, the most sophisticated method for analysis of long chain branching uses size exclusion fractionation with the simultaneous recording of mass, molecular weight and intrinsic visco sity of the fractions. In the 1940s and 1950s, random branching in polymers and its effect on their properties was studied by Stockmayer, Flory, Zimm and many others. Their work remains a milestone on the subject to this day. Flory dedicated several chapters of his "Principles of Polymer Chemistry" to non linear polymers. Especially important at that time was the view that randomly branched polymers are inter mediates to polymeric networks. Further developments in randomly branched polymers came from the introduction of percolation theory. The modern aspec ts of this topic are elaborated here in the chapter by W. Burchard.

QCM-D Studies on Polymer Behavior at Interfaces reviews the applications of quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) in polymer research, including the conformational change of grafted polymer chains, the grafting kinetics of polymer chains, the growth mechanism of polyelectrolyte multilayers, and the interactions between polymers and phospholipid membranes. It focuses on how QCM-D can be applied to the study of polymer behavior at various solid-liquid interfaces. Moreover, it clearly reveals the physical significance of the changes in frequency and dissipation associated with the different polymer behaviors at the interfaces.

Drawing a picture of the current situation of this new field, this volume both summarizes the past achievements and analyzes the present unsolved problems.

This book summarizes the properties and applications of conventional and commercially available fiber-forming, bioresorbable polymers, as well as those currently under study, for use as biotextiles. Factors affecting the performance of these biomaterials are presented, and precautionary measures to reduce premature, hydrolytic degradation during manufacturing and processing are discussed. Because of the structural requirements of medical devices and the technological advancements in synthetic fibers and textile technology, the new field of "Biotextiles" has evolved to exploit the potential of various woven, knitted, braided and non-woven textile structures for biomedical applications. Textile substrates provide certain unique mechanical properties to the medical device and because of an inherently high level of porosity, they can encourage cell growth and promote migration and proliferation. Bioresorbable devices that assist in the repair and regeneration of damaged tissues have in recent years replaced many of the permanent prosthetic devices. Thus, the topic of "Bioresorbable Biomaterials" generates much interest and research activity in the field of biomaterials science today. For this reason, the use of bioresorbable polymers as fibers is currently dominating the field of resorbable biomaterials for applications from sutures to tissue engineering scaffolds.

"Functionalized Conjugated Polyelectrolytes "presents a comprehensive review of these polyelectrolytes and their biomedical applications. Basic aspects like molecular design and optoelectronic properties are covered in the first chapter. Emphasis is placed on the various applications including sensing (chemical and biological), disease diagnosis, cell imaging, drug/gene delivery and disease treatment. This book explores a multi-disciplinary topic of interest to researchers working in the fields of chemistry, materials, biology and medicine. It also offers an integrated perspective on both basic research and application issues. Functionalized conjugated polyelectrolyte materials, which have already drawn considerable interest, will become a major new direction for biomedicine development.

Silicone Surface Science offers a survey of the major topics concerning the properties and behavior of silicone surfaces. It covers all main aspects of the subject, including: polydimethylsiloxane, spread monolayers, self-assembled monolayers, hydrophobicity and super-hydrophobicity, coupling agents, surfactants, fluorosilicones, surface treatments and surface analysis. This book brings together the field's leading experts who investigated both fundamental and applied aspects of silicone surface science and technology, and introduces the reader to the origins and historical development of silicone surfaces as well as to their most significant current key features. Silicone Surface Science is an invaluable guide and indispensable reference source for all those interested in this important area of polymer and materials science and technology, from graduate students to experienced scientists alike.

Over the past 40 years, Rotational Isomeric State (RIS) models for hundreds of polymer structures have been developed. The RIS approach is now available in several software packages. The user is often faced with the time-consuming task of finding appropriate RIS parameters from the literature. This book aims at easing this step by providing a comprehensive overview of the models available. It reviews the literature from the first applications of RIS models to the end of 1994, comprises synthetic as well as naturally orccuring macromolecules, and tabulates all the pertinent features of published models. It will help readers, even when not very familiar with the method, to take advantage of this computationally efficient way of assessing the conformational properties of macromolecular systems.