Preface

O V E R THE PAST CENTURY, G L O B A L ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES have increased more than fifty-fold. This extraordinary growth has raised serious con­cerns about current patterns of production and consumption. Greater attention has been given to the concept of sustainable economic systems that rely on renewable sources of energy and materials. The use of biologically derived poly­mers (biopolymers) emerges as an important component for economic develop­ment. By transforming agricultural feedstocks, or harnessing the enzymes found in nature, a new class of renewable, biodegradable and biocompatible materials is being introduced. Emerging applications for biopolymers range from packaging to industrial chemicals, to medical implant devices, to computer storage media. In addition to producing "green" materials with unique physical and functional properties, the processes used to create biopolymers leads to new manufacturing approaches that minimize energy consumption and waste generation. As the world addresses a growing list of environmental problems, the possibility of using proteins, carbohydrates, and other biopolymers to meet the materials require­ments of an expanding economy is likely to receive increasing attention.

A symposium, entitled "Natural Polymers as Advanced Materials," was held at the Fifth Chemical Congress of North America, in ancun, Mexico, November 11-15, 1997, to address technical constraints associated with increased use of biopolymers. That title reflected a degree of naivete by implying that synthetic materials are more advanced than their natural counterparts. After attending the Cancun presentations and after reading the chapters contained in this volume, the Editors are better educated. Hence, the title of this volume was changed to "Biopolymers: Utilizing Nature's Advanced Materials." Nevertheless, from the 33 presentations at the Cancun symposium, came 14 chapters in this volume. Another four chapters were solicited. The chapters, which are a combination of original research and review articles, describe current issues that are dictating biomaterial research directions. We are confident the reader will enjoy their content as much as we did.

We are grateful to the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the ACS Books Department for providing a forum for presenting this work. We particularly thank the authors and the reviewers for their efforts and expertise. We also thank

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Proctor & Gamble Company, Rohm & Haas Company, McDonald's Corporation, Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation, Muir Omni Graphics, Monsanto, and ACS for financial support, as well as the Department of Marine Sciences, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for administrative support. Special thanks go to Deborah K. Bitner for her superior office skills and dedicated professional efforts.

SYED H. IMAM RICHARD V. G R E E N E Agricultural Research Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Peoria, IL 61604-3999

B A Q A R R. ZAIDI Department of Marine Sciences University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, PR 00681-9013

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In Biopolymers; Imam, S., et al.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1999.