- Email: [email protected]
Macromolecules, vol. 2, synthesis, materials and technology
212
the liberal use of certain scientific terms without consistency. For example, the title 2.a of Chapter 8 of Volume I (p. 133) describes “. , .Trial of various Catalysts in Solution Polymerization”. Yet in the third paragraph of this section it is stated that “. . .the molecular weight of the polymers obtained with these materials appears to be inversely proportional to the amount used indicating that they are initiators and not true catalysts” (the italicized words are ours). Also, there are numerous contradicting definitions of “sustained” and “controlled” release, one of D. Wise on p. 4 (Vol. I) who seems to favor the idea that controlled and zero-order release are synonymous, another by R. Reuning on p. 94 (Vol. I) who states that controlled release is a “specific programmed release pattern. . .I’, three more definitions by J. Olsen and H. Sadek on p. 195 (Vol. I) and a somewhat whimsical (and unscientific) parallelism by S. Sadek on p. 140 (Vol. II) where a sustained release matrix system is “visualized as. . .a dissolving life saver”. Although these two volumes are a useful compendium of experiments protocols and applications of lactic/glycolic acid copolymers in various controlled release applications, the book presents a very one-sided view and for this reason can be recommended only to those workers who are interested in work carried out at Dynatech.
Washington, on March 21-23, 1983. The book is divided into six parts: i. Chemistry of Adhesibn - The Importance of Interface ii. Physics of Adhesion - Characterization of Surface and Bulk of Adhesive Systems ... 111. Radiation-curable Adhesives Adhesives iv. High Temperature V. Anaerobic and Structural Adhesives vi. Trends in Adhesive Research The first five parts include all the papers presented in the Symposium, including transcripts of the discussion period. All the papers are refereed. The last part includes contributions on future trends in adhesive research. Most of the work presented is of developmental and applied nature. There is only one paper (by D. Maugis) addressing the fundamentals of adhesion. The book is a very good review of adhesive chemistry. It is well edited and it is a good reference book for those interested in the synthesis, properties and applications of various adhesives. Interested controlled release scientists may find interesting papers which (by ~omp~ison) could give them new ideas on the design of bioadhesive systems. However, there is no specific mention of bioadhesion or bioadhesive polymers. A.G. MIKOS
and N.A. PEPPAS
Purdue Uni~ler~its
N.A. PEPPAS
Purdue University J. HELLER
SRI ~~ter~at~~nal
L.-H. Lee (Ed.), Adhesive Chemistry: Development and Trends, Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1984, 868 + xii pages, $115.00. This volume contains the Proceedings of a Symposium on Recent Developments in Adhesive Chemistry, held during the American Chemical Society meeting of Seattle,
Hans-Georg Elias, Macromolecules, Vol. I, Structure and Properties; Vol. 2, Synthesis, Materials and Technology, Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1984, 1342 pages (both volumes), $65.00 (Vol. 1) and $95.00 (Vol. 2). A thorough review of the polymer book of Dr. Elias calls for a monumental effort, since critical analysis of each and every point or idea in its 1350 pages requires several weeks of reading. Thus, my very positive review of this book is based on a rather cursory reading. In the early 70s Hans-Georg Elias (now
213
with the Midland Macromolecular Institute) wrote the first German version of a book entitled “Macromolekiile”, which has now become a classic of the German scientific literature. This book was translated in English by J.W. Stafford and published by Plenum in 1978. What I am reviewing here is the second English edition which is equivalent to the fourth German edition. The author has attempted to cover every aspect of polymer science (reader note: not polymer engineering) in a rather detailed way. The book contains 39 chapters. Of these, 14 chapters (Volume 1) address the physical chemistry and physics of polymers, 9 chapters discuss synthesis and reaction kinetics, and 16 are devoted to the analysis of specific categories of polymers (the industrial chemistry aspects of polymers). The chapters that I read are extremely well written, complete and critical. Dr. Elias brings a fresh style of presentation with good crosslisting and referencing among chapters. It is, however, unfortunate that quite often he uses a notation totally different to that used by most other polymer scientists (e.g., end-to-end distance L instead of r, shear stress u instead of 7, degree of crystallinity (Y instead of X, etc.). For the seasoned reader this is not a problem; the novice who has read for example only Flory’s book will be extremely confused. In general, this book is not for novices in the area of polymers. The quantity of material and the dense writing will make it an excellent reference to those who have worked in polymers and have an adequate background in this area. NICHOLAS A. PEPPAS Purdue University
Joon
Bu
Park, Biomaterials Science Plenum Press, New York, pages.
Engineering, 1984,459
and NY,
This book is an attempt to provide an introduction to the science of materials, ade-
quate to the understanding of biomaterials. It is longer and more detailed than Professor Park’s earlier book (Biomaterials: an Introduction, Plenum Press, 1979). It covers (1) fundamental structure-property relationships of both synthetic and biological materials, (2) metallic, ceramic and polymeric implant materials and (3) actual prostheses. While it was intended to “advance knowledge beyond an introductory level”, the book cannot be considered an advanced text. Unfortunately the book contains many errors and misleading statements. Typical errors (in sections relevant to controlled release) include a structural diagram of heparin withou any sulfur, chemical formulas for polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate, benzoyl peroxide and polystyrene missing methylene groups or whole benzene rings, incorrect explanations for the limited molecular weight of condensation polymers and of Fick’s first law of diffusion. Misconceptions in the biocompatibility sections are less apparent, but the sections on the foreign body reaction or thrombosis are too superficial to be of much value. Writing a textbook in a multidisciplinary area such as biomaterials is a difficult task even for the best of authors. Those who have failed to find a good book on materials science that covers adequately both metals and plastics know how difficult it is to explain polymers to metallurgists and metals to polymer chemists and engineers. Writing a book on biomaterials is further complicated by the need to explain biology, biochemistry and a variety of implant-related subjects as well. Dr. Park made some progress in this line but for a variety of reasons failed to meet his objective. To his credit, he combined viscoelasticity with sections on mechanical properties, polymeric crystals with metallic crystals, and strength of polymers with sections on strengthening mechanisms in metals. He also has an extensive discussion of the mechanical properties of both bone and soft tissue. His summaries of properties of individual implant materials and prosthetic
the liberal use of certain scientific terms without consistency. For example, the title 2.a of Chapter 8 of Volume I (p. 133) describes “. , .Trial of various Catalysts in Solution Polymerization”. Yet in the third paragraph of this section it is stated that “. . .the molecular weight of the polymers obtained with these materials appears to be inversely proportional to the amount used indicating that they are initiators and not true catalysts” (the italicized words are ours). Also, there are numerous contradicting definitions of “sustained” and “controlled” release, one of D. Wise on p. 4 (Vol. I) who seems to favor the idea that controlled and zero-order release are synonymous, another by R. Reuning on p. 94 (Vol. I) who states that controlled release is a “specific programmed release pattern. . .I’, three more definitions by J. Olsen and H. Sadek on p. 195 (Vol. I) and a somewhat whimsical (and unscientific) parallelism by S. Sadek on p. 140 (Vol. II) where a sustained release matrix system is “visualized as. . .a dissolving life saver”. Although these two volumes are a useful compendium of experiments protocols and applications of lactic/glycolic acid copolymers in various controlled release applications, the book presents a very one-sided view and for this reason can be recommended only to those workers who are interested in work carried out at Dynatech.
Washington, on March 21-23, 1983. The book is divided into six parts: i. Chemistry of Adhesibn - The Importance of Interface ii. Physics of Adhesion - Characterization of Surface and Bulk of Adhesive Systems ... 111. Radiation-curable Adhesives Adhesives iv. High Temperature V. Anaerobic and Structural Adhesives vi. Trends in Adhesive Research The first five parts include all the papers presented in the Symposium, including transcripts of the discussion period. All the papers are refereed. The last part includes contributions on future trends in adhesive research. Most of the work presented is of developmental and applied nature. There is only one paper (by D. Maugis) addressing the fundamentals of adhesion. The book is a very good review of adhesive chemistry. It is well edited and it is a good reference book for those interested in the synthesis, properties and applications of various adhesives. Interested controlled release scientists may find interesting papers which (by ~omp~ison) could give them new ideas on the design of bioadhesive systems. However, there is no specific mention of bioadhesion or bioadhesive polymers. A.G. MIKOS
and N.A. PEPPAS
Purdue Uni~ler~its
N.A. PEPPAS
Purdue University J. HELLER
SRI ~~ter~at~~nal
L.-H. Lee (Ed.), Adhesive Chemistry: Development and Trends, Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1984, 868 + xii pages, $115.00. This volume contains the Proceedings of a Symposium on Recent Developments in Adhesive Chemistry, held during the American Chemical Society meeting of Seattle,
Hans-Georg Elias, Macromolecules, Vol. I, Structure and Properties; Vol. 2, Synthesis, Materials and Technology, Plenum Press, New York, NY, 1984, 1342 pages (both volumes), $65.00 (Vol. 1) and $95.00 (Vol. 2). A thorough review of the polymer book of Dr. Elias calls for a monumental effort, since critical analysis of each and every point or idea in its 1350 pages requires several weeks of reading. Thus, my very positive review of this book is based on a rather cursory reading. In the early 70s Hans-Georg Elias (now
213
with the Midland Macromolecular Institute) wrote the first German version of a book entitled “Macromolekiile”, which has now become a classic of the German scientific literature. This book was translated in English by J.W. Stafford and published by Plenum in 1978. What I am reviewing here is the second English edition which is equivalent to the fourth German edition. The author has attempted to cover every aspect of polymer science (reader note: not polymer engineering) in a rather detailed way. The book contains 39 chapters. Of these, 14 chapters (Volume 1) address the physical chemistry and physics of polymers, 9 chapters discuss synthesis and reaction kinetics, and 16 are devoted to the analysis of specific categories of polymers (the industrial chemistry aspects of polymers). The chapters that I read are extremely well written, complete and critical. Dr. Elias brings a fresh style of presentation with good crosslisting and referencing among chapters. It is, however, unfortunate that quite often he uses a notation totally different to that used by most other polymer scientists (e.g., end-to-end distance L instead of r, shear stress u instead of 7, degree of crystallinity (Y instead of X, etc.). For the seasoned reader this is not a problem; the novice who has read for example only Flory’s book will be extremely confused. In general, this book is not for novices in the area of polymers. The quantity of material and the dense writing will make it an excellent reference to those who have worked in polymers and have an adequate background in this area. NICHOLAS A. PEPPAS Purdue University
Joon
Bu
Park, Biomaterials Science Plenum Press, New York, pages.
Engineering, 1984,459
and NY,
This book is an attempt to provide an introduction to the science of materials, ade-
quate to the understanding of biomaterials. It is longer and more detailed than Professor Park’s earlier book (Biomaterials: an Introduction, Plenum Press, 1979). It covers (1) fundamental structure-property relationships of both synthetic and biological materials, (2) metallic, ceramic and polymeric implant materials and (3) actual prostheses. While it was intended to “advance knowledge beyond an introductory level”, the book cannot be considered an advanced text. Unfortunately the book contains many errors and misleading statements. Typical errors (in sections relevant to controlled release) include a structural diagram of heparin withou any sulfur, chemical formulas for polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate, benzoyl peroxide and polystyrene missing methylene groups or whole benzene rings, incorrect explanations for the limited molecular weight of condensation polymers and of Fick’s first law of diffusion. Misconceptions in the biocompatibility sections are less apparent, but the sections on the foreign body reaction or thrombosis are too superficial to be of much value. Writing a textbook in a multidisciplinary area such as biomaterials is a difficult task even for the best of authors. Those who have failed to find a good book on materials science that covers adequately both metals and plastics know how difficult it is to explain polymers to metallurgists and metals to polymer chemists and engineers. Writing a book on biomaterials is further complicated by the need to explain biology, biochemistry and a variety of implant-related subjects as well. Dr. Park made some progress in this line but for a variety of reasons failed to meet his objective. To his credit, he combined viscoelasticity with sections on mechanical properties, polymeric crystals with metallic crystals, and strength of polymers with sections on strengthening mechanisms in metals. He also has an extensive discussion of the mechanical properties of both bone and soft tissue. His summaries of properties of individual implant materials and prosthetic