International
Symposium on Molecular Architecture for Degradable Polymers: Molecular
Design of Polymeric Materials of Tomorrow
Symposium
Editors, Ann-Christine
Albertsson and Sigbritt Karlsson
Editor-in-Chief, Hartwig Hocker
Editors: W. Guth, B. Jung, I. Meisel, S. Spiegel
Wiley-VCH (1998), pp. 1-410
ISBN 3-85739-327-0.
Preface
The
IUPAC Symposium "Macromolecular Architecture for Degradable Polymers"
was held June 10-13, 1997 at the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga
Tekniska Högskolan) in Stockholm, Sweden.
The meeting was sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Nobel
Institute of Chemistry), Astra AB, Pharmacia-Upjohn AB, NUTEK and Bo
Rydins Stiftelse för Vetenskaplig Forskning.
Presently, there is little control of the tertiary and quarternary structure
of synthetic polymers. In nature, these two microstructural modes govern
most fundamental processes associated with material "intelligence",
i. e. the ability of materials to respond to changes in their
environment. The aim of molecular architecture in polymer science is
to control the properties of the material. Sophisticated biological
properties for new materials, such as biocompatibility and membrane
functionality, will demand additional, new molecular architecture. There
are presently a great need for these biofunctional materials for the
development of medical devices, biosensors and new materials for tissue
engineering.
One hundred and sixty scientists from 25 countries gathered in Stockholm,
Sweden, June 10- 13, 1997 to present, listen and discuss "Molecular
Architecture for Degradable Polymers". Plenary lecturers, contributing
speakers and poster presenters made the three days very interesting
and motivating. The morning sessions were allocated to the plenary lectures
and after lunch two parallel sessions were given. Twenty-one plenary
lectures were invited along with contributing speakers and presenters.
A total of 55 oral presentations were held during the meeting. Stockholm
showed all our visitors its very best with a taste of tropical weather
(temperatures were more than 30 oC during the days and 20 oC during
the nights). Being so close to midsummer, this meant that the sun was
visible nearly all through the night. During the symposium, an informal
gettogether with a buffet was given at the Hotel Sheraton and over 90
people attended.
This volume of Macromolecular Symposia contains invited lectures,
oral presentations and in some instances also papers from poster presentations.
We want to thank all active contributors and all the participants for
making the symposium such a nice event. Those who have submitted their
papers to this symposium are gratefully acknowledged.
Ann-Christine
Albertsson, Sigbritt Karlsson