novel organic polymer materials with predetermined

properties. Such techniques include the synthesis,

kinetics and thermodynamics of macromolecular

organization.

The book consists of four articles reviewing the

literature based on the authors' own experiences over

the last decade. It does not claim to be exhaustive nor

to provide complete coverage of all literature in this

®eld. Instead, it focuses on the currently interesting

areas of research, notably living polymerization, block

copolymer synthesis, synthesis of dendrimers and

macroporous thermosets.

In the ®rst chapter by P Dubois and D Mecerreyes,

recent developments in the macromolecular engineer-

ing of aliphatic polyesters are reviewed. Aluminium-

alkoxide-controlled living ring-opening polymeriza-

tion of cyclic (di)esters, ie lactones, lactides and

glycolides, is described. This so-called `coordination±

insertion' mechanism, and the ability of this living

polymerization process to prepare well-de®ned homo-

polymers, are then discussed. Because of this synthetic

breakthrough, a variety of novel materials have been

developed with versatile applications in very different

®elds, such as biomedical and microelectronics. In

Chapter 2, JL Hedrick describes an approach to

modify polyimides with minimal sacri®ce of their

desirable properties. Preparation of block and graft

copolymers provides a means of tailoring the mor-

phology and properties of polyimides by judicious

choice of the coblock±coblock composition, molecular

architecture, and block lengths. The advent of the

poly(amidoalkyl ester) intermediate to the polyimide

allows the isolation and characterization of the

copolymers before imidization. Such systems repre-

sent self-assembling arrays with considerable potential

for the preparation of nanostructures. This chapter

describes the modi®cation of rigid and semi-rigid

polyimides by copolymerization to address favorably

such issues as residual thermal stress, dielectric

constant, auto-adhesion and other key design criteria.

In Chapter 3, C Hawker describes the synthesis of

dendritic macromolecules by both the convergent or

divergent growth approaches, with emphasis on the

controlled manipulation of three-dimensional struc-

ture. The utility of these techniques in preparing a

wide variety of different dendritic structures is then

discussed in terms of the three distinct building blocks,

and the chain-ends. Control of these regions, coupled

with changes in the synthetic approach, gives tailor-

made dentritic macromolecules with predetermined

physical properties and/or function. The application of

current spectroscopic methods to the structure eluci-

dation of dentritic structure on the physical properties

of these novel materials is described. Finally, a

comparison is made with the related class of highly

branched polymers, hyperbranched macromolecules,

and the manipulation of structure±function for these

materials is examined.

Macroporous polymers are treated in detail in the

fourth chapter by J Kiefer, focusing on prediction of

phase behaviour and preparing thermosetting materi-

als. The formation of porous polymers is initially

classi®ed into methods of gas blowing, emulsion

derived and phase separation. In chemically induced

phase separation involving a reactive polymer pre-

cursor and a solvent, the phase separation is driven by

the change in free energy of the system given by

changes in enthalpy and entropy. Guidelines based on

the component molecular structure are given for the

prediction and veri®cation of phase behaviour, and

hence the ®nal porous morphology. The in¯uence of

the kinetics is followed by processing the two-phase

polymer±liquid to give either isolated or co-continuous

porosities. Finally, the in¯uence of dispersed liquid

droplets or voids on polymer thermoset fracture

properties is discussed, with a section on the lowering

of dielectric constant through void incorporation.

F Schue

Exper iment al strat egies for poly mer scientis tsand plastics engin eersRC NeumanHanser, Munich, 1997pp ix�154, price DM88.00ISBN 3-446-1862-8

The stated objective of this book is to provide a guide

to the design of effective experimental strategies for

those who have received no formal training in

experimental design, statistics or data analysis

methods. Following a brief introduction, the text is

divided into three sections. The ®rst of these,

Experimental design, discusses types of variables,

experimental error, screening designs and three

component mixture designs. The following section,

Data analysis, comprises three chapters, dealing with

regression analysis, multiple objectives and problems

encountered with data, such as drift correction,

distribution of variance and outlier detection. In the

®nal part of the book, Experimental strategies, chapters

devoted to masterbatches, testing strategy and opti-

mization strategy precede a concluding summary. The

clear and accessible text is complemented by a

software demo disk. This book may be of interest to

teachers or to scientists who seek an introductory

guide to this topic.

MD Purbrick

Modern techniques for polymer char acteri sationEdited by RA Pethrick and JV DawkinsJohn Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK, 1999pp xvii�392, price £140ISBN 0-471-96097-7

A book bearing the title Modern techniques for polymercharacterization is bound to be inviting to all concerned

Polym Int 49:235±238 (2000) 237

Book reviews

with the structure±property relationships of polymeric

materials. Such people fall into two categories; those

who are physicists or physical chemists by background

and practice, intent upon understanding polymer

properties, and those who are materials synthesists

with a view to manipulating polymer properties. This

book could be expected to hold some appeal to both,

but unfortunately in a number of the chapters the

expert authors have soon lost touch with the non-

specialist. It is also structured in an odd way. There are

two chapters by different authors on temperature

rising elution fractionation, but none on conventional

GPC/SEC, whilst the more classical techniques of

osmometry, light scattering photometry, viscometry

and ultracentrifugation all receive coverage. A good

chapter on terminology for polymer chemistry within a

text concerned with techniques goes unexplained until

deep within, where it is left to the author to state that a

signi®cant number of the de®ned terms have relevance

to topics discussed elsewhere in the volume. The ®nal

chapter, a second one on osmometry then follows.

Whilst the repetition goes unexplained, the peculiar

sequencing is excused by the late receipt of the

manuscript, but it is surprising that the publishers

appear to have been unwilling to accommodate this

problem in any other way.

The ®rst chapter devoted to temperature rising

elution fractionation is no more than a cursory glance

at the subject; the second offers much more compre-

hensive coverage, sensibly starting with identi®cation

of the technique's importance to the study of chemical

composition and tacticity distributions in polyalkenes.

The chapter on ®eld ¯ow fractionation is possibly the

®rst academic review of the subject. Background

theory and equipment design are presented well, but

it is late in the chapter before it becomes clear that the

technique is producing some encouraging results on

biological macromolecules.

The next chapter is concerned with static and

dynamic light scattering measurements on polymers

and colloidal particles. The level of mathematical

understanding required here is considerable, even

when the discussion turns to the application of

scattering detectors in size exclusion chromatography,

the message is obscured for all but the specialist. The

next three chapters, on neutron scattering techniques,

all contain their share of mathematical analysis.

However, Neutron re¯ection studies of polymers is

presented in such a way that the more numerate

reader is never totally lost. The problems to which the

technique might be applied are established from the

outset, and discussion of experimental design leads

naturally to data interpretation in four applications.

Neutron scattering studies of polymer dynamics concerns

inelastic scattering which can be used to detect the

motion of single polymer molecules in the bulk. In

Small-angle neutron scattering the author does well to

lead the reader through the detailed theory as it applies

to modelling selected polymer systems but again this

chapter is written by the specialist for the specialist.

Recent advances in mass spectroscopy of polymers fairly

covers both electrospray and MALDI-TOF methods.

Plenty of successful applications of the techniques are

described and the reviewer found this to be one of the

more informative chapters in the book. However, both

chapters on osmometry/viscometry contain little that

cannot be found in any student polymer text.

There is a chapter each on gel electrophoresis of

biological macromolecules, and on ultracentrifugation

and sedimentation. In the former, the theory is kept to

a minimum and applications to biomolecules are

always in view. Experimental protocols written as

decision sequences are of direct practical value. The

ultracentrifugation chapter is readable, though with

both the background and the purposes of the experi-

ment rooted in physics and/or polymer modelling it is

inevitably more detailed in its theory.

The book is well referenced throughout, but the

format of referencing varies from chapter to chapter.

Produced in hardback between durable black covers,

the front one of which bears depictions of neutron and

photon scattering and of gel permeation by polymer

molecules (another curiosity given the non-inclusion

of the latter topic), it is a very expensive book that will

attract only a specialist readership.

RG Jones

238 Polym Int 49:235±238 (2000)

Book reviews