Molecular Interactions and Time-Space Organization in Macromolecular Systems

Structural organization or disorganization in macromolecular systems has been an important subject of polymer physical chemistry during the last one or two decades. This volume summarizes the main lectures presented at the Osaka University Macromolecular Symposium OUMS '98 on Molecular Interactions and Time-Space Organization in Macromolecular Systems, where the following topics were discussed:crystallization kinetics, liquid crystals, phase separation, gelation, adhesion, complex formation, and self-organization, with emphasis on molecular interactions. Both these topics are hot issues at present and frequently are taken up as a main theme at a particular symposium. The present symposium invited leading theorists and experimentalists in these fields as guest speakers and is expected to attract the interest of a significant range of readers. Structural organization or disorganization in macromolecular systems has been an important subject of polymer physical chemistry in the past one or two decades. §Our book focuses on recent advances in this subject, collecting contributions by distinguished theorists and experimentalists, who were invited to the third Osaka University Macromolecular Symposium OUMS '98 on Molecular Interactions and Time-Space Organization in Macromolecular Systems. This book covers such topics as crystallization kinetics, liquid crystals, phase separation, gelation, adhesion, complex formation, and self-organization, with emphasis on molecular interactions. Although those topics appear to spread over different specific polymer fields, our understanding of structural ordering on a molecular level requires common knowledge of molecular structures or conformations of individual polymers, intra and intermolecular interactions, and dynamic processes.§This book emphasizes this fundamental point as indicated by its title, and it is unique in that it deals with a variety of static and dynamic properties of macromolecules in solids and solutions. The book will provide useful information on modern polymer science and also on fundamentals of industrial applications of complex polymer systems.