Polymer International 43 (1997) 289È290

Book Reviews

gelsHigh-swellingMacromolecular symposia 109J. Kahovec.Hu� thig & Wepf Verlag, Zug, 1996.pp. 190, price US$58.00, SFr64.00, DM78.00.ISBN 3-85739-306-8

Gels È polymeric networks swollen with solvent È occupy theborderlands between solid and liquid : deformable, yet unableto Ñow. “High-swelling gels, was the topic of the 36th Micro-symposium on Macromolecules, held in Prague in July 1995,and the plenary lectures have been gathered together in thisvolume. Sixteen contributions, by authors from Japan, USA,and Europe, provide a snapshot of recent research in this area.

There is great interest in responsive gells, which mayundergo dramatic changes in size or shape in response toenvironmental perturbations. A hydrogel based onpoly(silamine), which has alternating hydrophilic and hydro-phobic units in the main chain, is shown to undergo a discretevolume change on altering the pH. Force-generating ampho-teric poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels could conceivably be usedas artiÐcial muscles, and their microporous structure has beenstudied. The collapse of various acrylamide-based hydrogelshas been investigated and the results compared with theory.Thermo-responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogelshave been considered for use in a biohybrid artiÐcial pancreas,whilst comb-type grafted materials are shown to deswell muchmore rapidly than their rather tardy conventional counter-parts.

Hydrogels, with their high water content and deformability,have features in common with many biological materials. Inthe stomach, a mucin gel forms at low pH to protect thestomach lining. The interation of cells with various polymershas been studied. Possible biomedical applications of hydro-gels are indicated, including coatings for vasular grafts, artiÐ-cial cartilage and drug delivery. Other applications include thecontrol of rheology in a variety of products and processes,sensor coatings for the detection of gaseous analytes and coat-ings for the immobilization of marine bacteria.

Like most symposium proceedings, this volume is neithergeneral enough to provide a clear introduction to the topic forthe uninitiated, nor comprehensive enough to be regarded as afull review of recent developments in the subject. Nevertheless,it o†ers an interesting insight into the diverse properties andapplications of hydrogels.

M.P. Budd

chemistryArchaeologicalA. M. Pollard and C. Heron.Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1996.pp. xvi ] 376, price UK£22.50.ISBN 0-85404-523-6Amber, resinite and fossil resinsACS symposium series no. 617Edited by K. B. Anderson and J. C. Creilig.American Chemical Society, Washington DC, 1995.pp. xvii ] 297, price US$79.95.ISBN 0-8412-3336-5

Neither of these volumes is entirely about polymer science, inthe sense that readers of Polymer International expect to read,but both volumes are fascinating and they do contain sub-stantial discussions of aspects of polymer chemistry. Impor-tant contributions to archaeology, where the humanbehaviour of past societies can be deduced from study of theirmaterial remains, have been made using the methods ofphysics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences.

The Ðrst volume, from the Bradford University Departmentof Archaeological Sciences, is a well written and well refer-enced textbook discussing speciÐc areas of chemistry andmethods available for the solution of archaeological problems.Most of these fall outside the main stream of polymer science(although the materials science of glass is important to studiesof medieval window glass), but two chapters are particularlyrelevant. That on the chemistry and use of resinous substancesis, of course, mainly concerned with polyterpenoid and othercondensed aromatic systems : the most widely studied includeamber (and its inclusions) and wood tar in Neolithic remainsin N. Europe. Another chapter describes many years of studyof bone collagen from ancient skeletons found in California,when the oilÐelds were being developed earlier this century(work originally devoted to answering the question “Who wasthe First American, and where did he/she come from?Ï), datingfrom the degree of racemization of some of the amino acidspresent, and current views in relation to results from radio-carbon dating.

The second volume, from an ACS symposium held in 1994,covers some of the same ground in more detail, and presents aseries of research papers and discussions of the chemistry andproperties of natural resins and related compounds (again,often condensed aromatic systems) from many di†erentsources, notably amber in its many forms and origins, fromancient forests to medieval jewellery. Some, but not all, are of

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