Macromolecular Engineering

Macromolecules are essential for life and constitute the basics for molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics and food chemistry. They are also the constituents of polymers that find applications as plastics, fibers, elastomers, coatings, and adhesives in the electrical and optical industries, as well as in many other fields.Macromolecular engineering includes the design and preparation of well-defined macromolecules, together with their precise characterization at various stages of synthesis and processing so a to optimize their macroscopic properties for specific functions and applications.This is a state-of-the-art description of the synthetic tools used to precisely control various aspects of macromolecular structure, as well as modern characterization techniques at molecular and macroscopic level for various properties of well-defined (co)polymers in solution, bulk and at surfaces. Volume 1 covers synthetic techniques, while Volume 2 deals with the elements of macromolecular structural control, such as chain microstructure, chain topology and special systems. The third volume discusses investigation techniques and characterization, while the final volume looks at emerging applications.Krzysztof Matyjaszewski is currently J. C. Warner University Professor of Natural Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. He is also the Director of the Center for Macromolecular Engineering at CMU and adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the Polish Academy of Sciences. His research group is involved in several areas of macromolecular engineering, especially in synthesis of various well-defined copolymers using atom transfer radical polymerization and other controlled/living polymerization techniques. Professor Matyjaszewski is the editor of Progress in Polymer Science and Central European Journal of Chemistry, as well as having over 400 publications, more than 50 book chapters, eight books and 26 US patents to his name.Currently the Director of the Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques at Bordeaux University (France) and Director of Research with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Yves Gnanou is also an adjunct professor at the University of Florida and was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. His research interests focus on the study of the mechanism of chain polymerizations and the development of miscellaneous polymeric architectures by novel synthetic methods. He has authored more than 160 publications in the field of polymer chemistry, one book and 16 patents.Following spells in academia, government, and industrial laboratories, Ludwik Leibler is currently Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Professor of Soft Matter and Chemistry at Ecole de Physique et Chimie Industrielles in Paris. His current projects deal with macromolecular and supramolecular systems and in particular with blends, copolymers, and networks. Dr. Leibler is the author of over 130 papers in journals, and in 2004, was elected as Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering (USA).