Applications of Biodegradable and Bio-Based Polymers for Human Health and a Cleaner Environment
AAP Research Notes on Polymer Engineering Science and Technology Series

The world faces significant challenges as the population and consumption continue to grow while nonrenewable fossil fuels and other raw materials are depleted at ever-increasing rates. This informative volume provides a technical approach to address these issues using green design and analysis. It takes an interdisciplinary look at concepts that can be applied across engineering disciplines in the development of products, processes, and systems to minimize environmental impacts across all life cycle phases.

Topics include polymers for pollutant removal, wood-based biopolymers, bio-based polymers for drug formulations, biomaterial-based medical implants, biodegradabilty of biopolymer materials, bio-based polymers for food packaging applications, biodegradable polymers for tissue engineering applications, and more.

Part 1: Biopolymers-Based Advanced Materials 1. Wood-Based Biopolymers as Active Elements in New Green Silicone Composites 2. Rheological Insights in Development of Biopolymer Scaffolds 3. Revealing Novel Functionalities and Inherent Properties of Bio-Based Polymers for Biomedical and Sustainable Applications 4. Bio-Based Polymers for Liposomal Drug Formulations 5. Biomaterial-Based Implants: A Medical Device to Reconstruct the Biological Structure 6. Metal Complexes-based Catalysts for Oxidation Reactions as New Alternatives for Catalytic Processes in the Production of Bio-Based Polymers Part 2: Biodegradable Polymers and Sustainable Composites 7. Current Trends and Perspectives in Biodegradable Polymers 8. Surface Modification and Analysis of Biodegradable Biopolymer Materials for Various Applications 9. Galactomannan: A Biodegradable Polymer Used for Bio-Based Edible Coating and Film Materials 10. Poly(lactic acid)-Based Materials: Food Packaging Application and Biodegradability Evaluation 11. Biodegradable and Biocompatible Nanocomposite Hydrogels as Emerging Biomaterials 12. New Perspectives on Development of Nanocomposites Based on Biodegradable Polymers and Their Tissue Engineering Applications 13. Bionanocomposites for Biomedical Applications Part 3: Environmental Opportunities and Risks 14. Cyclodextrin-Based Polymers for Pollutant Removal 15. Molecular Modeling and Properties of Chelate Agents and Their Composites for Treatment of Heavy Metal Intoxication 16. High Energy Radiation: A Promising Media for the Synthesis of Hydrogels Free from Toxic Chemicals 17. Chemistry of Schiff Base Synthesis and Their Applications: A Greener Approach 18. Eco-Compatible Synthetic Strategies: A Paradigm Shift in Organic Synthesis

Iuliana Stoica, PhD, is a Scientific Researcher in physics at the Romanian Academy, "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Department of Polymer Materials Physics. Her area of scientific activity is focused on characterization of a wide range of polymers, copolymers, polymeric composites, and polymeric mixtures. She was a main or co-author for over 95 papers in peer-reviewed ISI journals, and she has contributed several book chapters on polymer and materials science. She was a member of the organizing and program committees of several scientific conferences.

Omari V. Mukbaniani, DSc, is Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU), Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, and Chair of Macromolecular Chemistry, Tbilisi, Georgia. He is also Director of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry and Polymeric Materials at TSU and a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Georgia. He is the author of more than 480 publications, 25 books, monographs, and 10 inventions. He created the International Symposium on Polymers and Advanced Materials ICSP&AM.

Neha Kanwar Rawat, PhD, is a recipient of a prestigious DST Young Scientist Postdoctoral Fellowship and is presently a researcher in the Materials Science Division, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India. Her main interests include nanotechnology-nanostructured materials synthesis and characterization, with her main focus on comprising green chemistry, novel sustainable chemical processing of nano-conducting polymers/nanocomposites, etc. She has contributed chapters to international books published with the Royal Society of Chemistry, Wiley, Elsevier, etc.

A. K. Haghi, PhD, is the author and editor of over 200 books, as well as over 1000 published papers in various journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Haghi has received several grants, consulted for a num