Preface
Life and modern society cannot be imagined in the absence of natural and synthetic
macromolecules. This volume of Advances in Polymer Science is dedicated to the
60th anniversary of the Nobel Prize received in 1953 by Professor Hermann
Staudinger (23 March 1881–8 September 1965) “for his discoveries in the field of
macromolecular chemistry.”
Natural and synthetic macromolecules were known long before Staudinger.
However, the status of macromolecular compounds is best reflected by the
friendly advice received by Staudinger from Heinrich Otto Wieland, Nobel
Prize laureate in 1927. “Dear colleague, abandon your idea of large molecules,
organic molecules with molecular weights exceeding 5,000 do not exist. Purify
your products such as rubber, they will crystallize and turn out to be low
molecular weight compounds.” Staudinger also wrote in his memoirs: “Those
colleagues who were aware of my early publications in the field of low molecular
weight chemistry asked me why I decided to quit these beautiful fields of research
and why I devoted myself to such disgusting and ill-defined compounds such as
rubber and synthetic polymers which at that time in view of their properties were
referred to as grease chemistry (‘Schmierenchemie’).” The contributions of Hermann Staudinger to the field of macromolecular chemistry, for which he was
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1953, are best illustrated by a discussion between the
Emperor of Japan and Staudinger, that took place at the Imperial Palace of Japan
on 17th of April 1957. His Majesty Emperor Hirohito of Japan asked, “Professor
Staudinger, is this a concept that came into your mind to explain various
phenomenological behaviors of a group of compounds or did you really prove
their existence by rigorous scientific means?” The highly impressed Professor
Staudinger answered, “It is this experimental demonstration of the existence of
macromolecules which form the essential part of my work in the field of
macromolecular science.” Therefore, it was Staudinger who demonstrated the
covalent rather than colloidal structure of macromolecules.
During the early days of the twentieth century, organic chemists were convinced
that natural and synthetic macromolecules were colloidal aggregates of low molecular weight compounds. Staudinger obtained his Ph.D. at the age of 22, with Daniel
Vorla ¨nder at the University of Halle in 1903. Subsequently, he held faculty
xi
Life and modern society cannot be imagined in the absence of natural and synthetic
macromolecules. This volume of Advances in Polymer Science is dedicated to the
60th anniversary of the Nobel Prize received in 1953 by Professor Hermann
Staudinger (23 March 1881–8 September 1965) “for his discoveries in the field of
macromolecular chemistry.”
Natural and synthetic macromolecules were known long before Staudinger.
However, the status of macromolecular compounds is best reflected by the
friendly advice received by Staudinger from Heinrich Otto Wieland, Nobel
Prize laureate in 1927. “Dear colleague, abandon your idea of large molecules,
organic molecules with molecular weights exceeding 5,000 do not exist. Purify
your products such as rubber, they will crystallize and turn out to be low
molecular weight compounds.” Staudinger also wrote in his memoirs: “Those
colleagues who were aware of my early publications in the field of low molecular
weight chemistry asked me why I decided to quit these beautiful fields of research
and why I devoted myself to such disgusting and ill-defined compounds such as
rubber and synthetic polymers which at that time in view of their properties were
referred to as grease chemistry (‘Schmierenchemie’).” The contributions of Hermann Staudinger to the field of macromolecular chemistry, for which he was
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1953, are best illustrated by a discussion between the
Emperor of Japan and Staudinger, that took place at the Imperial Palace of Japan
on 17th of April 1957. His Majesty Emperor Hirohito of Japan asked, “Professor
Staudinger, is this a concept that came into your mind to explain various
phenomenological behaviors of a group of compounds or did you really prove
their existence by rigorous scientific means?” The highly impressed Professor
Staudinger answered, “It is this experimental demonstration of the existence of
macromolecules which form the essential part of my work in the field of
macromolecular science.” Therefore, it was Staudinger who demonstrated the
covalent rather than colloidal structure of macromolecules.
During the early days of the twentieth century, organic chemists were convinced
that natural and synthetic macromolecules were colloidal aggregates of low molecular weight compounds. Staudinger obtained his Ph.D. at the age of 22, with Daniel
Vorla ¨nder at the University of Halle in 1903. Subsequently, he held faculty
xi