Perspective and Summary

Randal W. Richards

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH CENTRE IN POLYMER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, DURHAM DH1 3LE, UK

In 1999 the Royal Society of Chemistry published a compendium booksetting out the contributions to society that have been made by chemistry. The title, 'The Age of the Molecule' neatly encapsulated the philosophy that a molecular understanding is the basis for optimum exploitation of new substances or materials provided by chemistry. Much of the material in the book was drawn from 20th Century developments but with evident foundations on the advances made in the latter half of the 19th Century. If the preceding 150 years is the 'Age of the Molecule' then the 20th Century has been 'The Century of the Macromolecule'.

It was not until the last century was some thirty years old that the concept of 'giant' molecules, polymers, was widely accepted. Evidently the science of polymers or macromolecules is relatively young compared to other aspects, e.g. quantum theory's beginnings pre-date polymer science by some twenty years. Of course mankind had been using polymers for many centuries before their macromolecular nature was recognised. These were mainly the naturally occurring polymers; cotton, wool, rubber, gums and leather. Driven by the blockade of raw materials during World War I, a process for the production of synthetic rubber was developed in Germany but the high cost of butadiene made the process commercially infeasible in peacetime. It was the rapid development and huge expansion of the petrochemicals industry catalysed by the strategic demands of World War I1 that led to the widespread use of synthetic polymeric materials by modern society. This use was just preceded by an understanding of the main facets of the molecular nature of polymers, quite unlike other materials, e.g. steel and alloys.

From the outset polymer science has involved physicists, chemists, engineers, materials scientists and design engineers. The multidisciplinary nature of polymer science from its earliest days is a feature that is not often exhibited by other fields of natural science until a certain 'maturity' has been reached. The synthetic polymer industry in the UK expanded greatly over the years from circa 1950 to circa 1995, as did the scope where polymeric materials are used. We rely on polymers to keep us warm and dry (fibres); to preserve and protect our food, housing and transport (packaging, protective coatings); to provide entertainment (recording media); contribute to defence systems and high speed travel (composites in military and civil aircraft); materials that are vital to the exploration of space (light weight antennae and ablative layers for re-entry) and developments over the last eight years presage their use as the next display medium and probably supplanting (eventually) the cathode ray tube. However, we still have much to learn in understanding and manipulating (for beneficial purposes) the macromolecules of life, proteins, polypeptides etc. The success of the Human Genome Project will undoubtedly accelerate that understanding.

During the last five years of the twentieth century it was evident that polymer science in the UK was changing both industrially and in academe. The industrial changes were caused by reduction in profit margins for the high volume polymers, polyolefins, polyesters, polyacrylics etc. as production plants with significantly lower operating costs elsewhere in the world came on stream. Increased need and use for speciality polymers, e.g. polyaromatic ketones, main chain liquid crystal polymers, needed a closer engagement with and understanding of the end-user market. These factors, and others, have led to a fragmentation of the industry with small units being more active in areas where the philosophy is production of smaller volumes of polymer but with more 'high tech' specifications. A rapidly developing area that exemplifies these aspects is electro-active and electroluminescent polymers. In the academic world, the 'bulge' of university expansion in the early to mid 1960s was passing through the system and recruitment of young academics was buoyant. This has resulted in the largest cohort for many years of academics with research interests in polymer science being recruited into British universities, such that at the end of 1999, some 35 academics all with less than 5 years appointment could be identified.

These evident changes and the awareness that others, perhaps more momentous, were on the horizon prompted the Pure and Applied Macromolecular Chemistry Group (MacroGroup UK) of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry to attempt a 'survey of the landscape'. The subliminal questions to be addressed included 'What's going on now?' 'What aspects are likely to develop in the future?' 'What should we be aware of?' The meeting 'Emerging Themes in Polymer Science' was an attempt to do this survey; the brief was not to attempt to pick winners but to inform, foster...