Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Natural Polymer Materials
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 19457
Special Issue Editors
Interests: plant biomass, composition, structure, chemistry and use; nanotechnology of natural polymers; nanoparticles; nanofibrils; chemistry, technology; nanotechnology of cellulose and other polysaccharides; polymer chemistry; structure and properties of macromolecular compounds; biochemicals; bioenergy
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural polymers involve a wide group of high-molecular compounds having different molecular and supramolecular structures, which can be isolated from land plants (lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, and other polysaccharides), land animals (wool, keratin, proteins, etc.), algae & sea animals (agar, proteins, chitin, chitosan, etc.), organisms (proteins, RNA, DNA), and other natural sources. These natural polymers are widespread on Earth and have great scientific and practical significance. Important features of natural polymers are their reproducibility and biodegradability in nature. Thanks to their reproducibility, natural polymers are an inexhaustible source of raw materials. On the other hand, after use, diverse products made from natural polymers decompose in nature under the action of microorganisms and do not pollute the environment.
Despite the difference in structure and origin, most natural polymers contain polar groups (hydroxyl, carboxyl, ether, ester, amino groups, etc.), which impart them increased hydrophilicity. Due to their hydrophilicity, natural polymers find application in the technologies of sorbents, absorbents, thickeners, excipients, carriers, fillers, and biocompatible materials for their wide use in medicine, cosmetics, pharmaceutics, hygiene, biology, chemistry, material engineering, environmental protection, and other areas.
An additional important property of natural polymers is the possibility of their chemical modification by replacing hydrophilic groups with hydrophobic ones. The methods of physicochemical methods include the coating of hydrophilic natural polymers with hydrophobic melts or latexes. Due to these modification methods, hydrophilic natural polymers turn to hydrophobic waterproof and vaporproof materials, which can be used, for example, for the production of hydrophobic fillers and reinforcements compatible with hydrophobic binders and with hydrophobic compositions of coatings, paints, adhesives, and other hydrophobic materials.
This special issue is devoted to the novel studies and applications of natural hydrophilic polymers, and promising methods of their modification to create hydrophobic polymers and materials, to study structure and properties, as well as to the use of modified polymers or materials. Both original research articles and reviews are encouraged.
Dr. Michael Ioelovich
Prof. Dr. Oleg L. Figovsky
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- hydrophilic
- hydrophobic
- plant polymers
- animal polymers
- biopolymers
- natural polymers from sea animals and algae
- methods of hydrophobization and superhydrophbization
- methods of investigation of hydrophobic/superhydrophobic natural polymers and materials
- structure
- properties
- applications
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