Introduction to Polymer Chemistry

Charles E. Carraher, Jr. is Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton. Recognized as Outstanding Chemist in the Southeast USA (1992) by the American Chemical Society and the recipient of a distinguished Service Award for his efforts in science education (1995) from the ACS’s Divisions of Polymer Chemistry and Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering, he is a Fellow of the American Institutes of Chemists (1975), Polymeric Materials (2006), Polymer Chemistry (2010) and the American Chemical Society (2010). Currently, he serves as Cochair of the ACS’s joint Polymer Education Committee, on the Board of the Intersocietal Polymer Education Committee and has been a member of the ACS’s Committee on Professional Training (CPT). He is associate editor of the Journal of Polymeric Materials and on the board of the Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials and the International Journal of Polymeric Materials and Polymeric Biomaterials. The author or coauthor of over 80 books and over 1100 articles, he has chaired/cochaired numerous national and international symposia. His research has led to the synthesis of over 75 new families of polymers. In 1984, he received the Outstanding Scientist and Engineering Award from the Engineers and Scientists Affiliate Societies Council for his work in science education and research, and in 1992 the Saltarilli Sigma Xi Award for his research efforts. Dr. Carraher was the recipient of the 2002 Distinguished Researcher Award from Allied Technologies. In 2016 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award in Polymer Science by the Polymer Division.

The following review appeared in the September 2017 issue of CHOICE: In the autumn of a long, productive career, polymer chemist Carraher (Florida Atlantic Univ.) gives readers a pentimento—a visible tracing of the 1,000 papers and over 75 books—that makes him and now the fourth edition (1st ed., CH, Jun'07, 44-5651) of his opus so distinguished. Any individual who needs an introduction to polymer chemistry should own a copy—especially beginners who otherwise have no reason to know the man and his work. In 16 business-as-usual, unblemished chapters covering 550 pages, Carraher defines one of the penultimate pedagogical limits that anchors science and engineering to the real world of chemistry and materials—the macromolecular scale of length. Nomenclature and morphology come first in early chapters, then a natural progression through natural and unnatural (synthetic) polymers. Methods and mechanisms are included and always interesting; in addition, physical and chemical tests based on useful properties abound. To its credit, the work is not a monograph, yet it has the appeal of one for its attention to practical applications, topical diversity, and currency. It is a tip-of-the-hat to the rich history that marks the development of polymers; and, at a little over 100 bucks, kudos to the author, the editor(s), and the publisher.--L. W. Fine, Columbia UniversitySumming Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.

• Introduction to Polymers.Polymer Structure (Morphology).Molecular Weight of Polymers.Naturally Occurring Polymers.Step Reaction Polymerization (Polycondensation Reactions).Ionic Chain-Reaction and Complex Coordination Polymerization (Addition Polymerization).Free Radical Chain Polymerization (Addition Polymerization).Copolymerization.Organometallic and Metalloid Polymers.Inorganic Polymers.Reactions of Polymers.Testing and Spectrometric Characterization of Polymers.Rheology and Physical Tests.Additives.Synthesis of Reactants and Intermediates for Polymers.Polymer Technology.Structures of Common Polymers