Post on 06-Jun-2016
so on). The synergy of `petrobased' and `green'
polymer combinations is extensively discussed.
F Schue
Polymer modificationEdited by Graham Swift, Charles E Carraher, Jr, andChristopher N BowmanPlenum Press, New York, 1997pp viii�212, price US$95.00ISBN 0-306-45714-8
Polymer Modi®cation is not a reference text, as the title
might misleadingly suggest, but is a conference volume
containing papers presented at the symposium on
Polymer Modi®cation held at the ACS Meeting in
Florida in 1996. It covers the chemical modi®cation of
polymers in three parts. The ®rst part on surfacemodi®cations covers imidization of PMMA via reactive
extrusion, photohydroperoxidation of unsaturated
elastomers, the synthesis of hydrophobe-modi®ed
water-soluble polymers using phase transfer catalysis,
and chemical modi®cation of poly(lactic acid)-based
products. The second part on reaction with vinyl
polymers, covers functionalization or chemical modi-
®cation of (i) polyole®ns, (ii) acrylamide polymers and
(iii) poly(vinylbenzyl chloride), the formation of
magnesium partially-stabilized zirconia ceramics,
grafting of vinyl monomers on to polystyrene copoly-
mers, crosslinking by glutaraldehyde and substitution
reactions on poly(chlorotri¯uoroethylene). The ®nal
section, on inorganic-containing and shaped poly-
mers, includes the synthesis of (i) tin ionomers based
on ethylene±acrylic acid copolymers, (ii) titanocene
polyethers, and (iii)styrene- and siloxane-based silanol
polymers, the synthesis and ion-coupling reactions of
telechelic poly(dimethylsiloxane), the modelling of
poly(acrylic acid) and its salts, and modelling of boron
speciation in solution with a reactive dendrimeric
polymer.
The book is wide ranging in the subject area
covered, and provides a useful overview of current
research themes in chemical modi®cation of polymers.
The papers describe current research: as such the book
does not provide a systematic reference summary of
the general subject area and provides little information
on the properties of the modi®ed polymers and the
exploitation of modi®ed polymers. The book is,
therefore of more interest to the practitioner in the
®eld rather than to someone wanting a general
introduction.
WA MacDonald
Polymers and copolymers of higher a-olefinsEdited by BA Krentsel, YV Kissin, VI Kleiner and LLStotskayaCarl Hanser Verlag, Munchen 1997pp vii�374, price DM 198, US$147.50, UK£83,OS1445ISBN 3-446-17593-8
The book starts with an introductory chapter on the
principles of ole®n polymerization and then covers the
higher a-ole®n polymers and copolymers in turn,
1-butene, higher linear a-ole®ns, 4-methyl-1-pentene,
a-ole®ns with branched alkyl groups, vinylcyclo-
hexanes and ®nally copolymers of ethylene and higher
a-ole®ns. It is `dedicated' to cover all aspects of these
polymers and copolymers including commercial
manufacture, physical properties, resin processing
and applications. Chemists interested solely in poly-
merization catalysts, reaction mechanisms, structure,
chemical and physicochemical properties, will ®nd it
interesting and informative. Any claim that the book
covers, in the same expertise and detail, all aspects of
commercial production, properties, processing and
applications cannot be upheld. Particular irritations
are the lack of standardized test methods in the
physical property tables and the incorrect use of `melt
index' (when it should be mass or volume melt ¯ow
rate). The chapter on copolymers of ethylene and
higher a-ole®ns is particularly disappointing in this
respect, as these copolymers contribute more than
95% of present commercial production. Most of the
information in the chapter on processing and applica-
tions deals with the newer LLDPE polymers, and this
tends to give the reader a rather unbalanced view of
ethylene copolymers as a whole. This weaker treat-
ment contrasts starkly with the ®nal chapter, which is a
review of the thermodynamics of higher a-ole®ns and
their polymerization reactions.
WJ Allwood
622 Polym Int 48:621±622 (1999)
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