This brief outlines the most recent advances in the production of polyols and polyurethanes from renewable resources, mainly vegetable oils, lignocellulosic biomass, starch, and protein. The typical processes for the production of polyols from each of the above mentioned feedstocks are introduced and the properties of the resultant polyols and polyurethanes are also discussed.

Today, young cosmetics researchers who have completed their graduate studies and have entered a cosmetics company are put through several years of training before they become qualified to design cosmetics formulations themselves. They are trained so that they can design formulas not by a process of logic but by heart, like craftsmen, chefs, or carpenters. This kind of training seems a terrible waste of labor and time. To address this issue and allow young scientists to design novel cosmeti...

This widely respected and frequently consulted reference work provides a wealth of information and guidance on industrial chemistry and biotechnology. Industries covered span the spectrum from salt and soda ash to advanced dyes chemistry, the nuclear industry, the rapidly evolving biotechnology industry, and, most recently, electrochemical energy storage devices and fuel cell science and technology.Other topics of surpassing interest to the world at large are covered in chapters on...

This book covers fundamental principles and numerical methods relevant to the modeling of the injection molding process. As injection molding processing is related to rheology, mechanical and chemical engineering, polymer science and computational methods, and is a rapidly growing field, the book provides a multidisciplinary and comprehensive introduction to the subjects required for an understanding of the complex process. It addresses the up-to-date status of fundamental understanding an...

This compilation provides advanced graduate students and researchers with a structured overview of olefin polymerization. Divided into eight chapters written by international experts, this book covers polymerization using various organotransition-metal catalysts, including early and late transition metal complexes, new trends in olefin oligomerization and related reactions. All authors address the historic and scientific backgrounds of the field as well as current research progress and pot...

Silicones have unique properties including thermal oxidative stability, low temperature flow, high compressibility, low surface tension, hydrophobicity and electric properties. These special properties have encouraged the exploration of alternative synthetic routes of well defined controlled microstructures of silicone copolymers, the subject of this Springer Brief. The authors explore the synthesis and characterization of notable block copolymers. Recent advances in controlled radical pol...

Biopolymers from Renewable Resources is a compilation of information on the diverse and useful polymers derived from agricultural, animal, and microbial sources. The volume provides insight into the diversity of polymers obtained directly from, or derived from, renewable resources. The beneficial aspects of utilizing polymers from renewable resources, when considering synthesis, pro cessing, disposal, biodegradability, and overall material life-cycle issues, suggests that this will continu...

The proposed book focusses on metal mediated/catalyzed “controlled/living radical polymerization” (CRP/LRP) methods. It surveys a wide variety of catalyzed polymerization reactions, making it essentially a “one stop” review in the field. A significant contribution to polymer science is “metathesis polymerization” discovered by Grubbs and others. The book will cover various metathesis polymerization methods and implications in polymer industry.

One of the most significant challenges facing mankind in the twenty-first century is the development of a sustainable global economy. Within the scientific community, this calls for the development of processes and technologies that will allow the sustainable production of materials from renewable natural resources. Plant material, in particular lignin, is one such resource. During the annual production of about 100 million metric tons of chemical wood pulps worldwide, approximately 45 and...

“Applied Cross-Coupling Reactions” provides students and teachers of advanced organic chemistry with an overview of the history, mechanisms and applications of cross-coupling reactions. Since the discovery of the transition-metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions in 1972, numerous synthetic uses and industrial applications have been developed. The mechanistic studies of the cross-coupling reactions have disclosed that three fundamental reactions: oxidative addition, transmetalation, and r...

This book is a comprehensive review of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). PEMFCs are the preferred fuel cells for a variety of applications such as automobiles, cogeneration of heat and power units, emergency power and portable electronics. The first 5 chapters of the book describe rationalization and illustration of approaches to high temperature PEM systems. Chapters 6 - 13 are devoted to fabrication, optimization and characterization of phosphoric acid-do...

Copolymerization is a very widely used industrial process, in fact the dominant process in macromolecular chemistry. With the advent of widespread computing power, this book will be very useful both to academic researchers in copolymerization and to researchers in industry concerned with the synthesis of polymers such as plastics, rubbers, chemical fibers, and paints. A disk with 15 computer programs accompanies the book.