Advances in Chemically Modified and Functionalized Polymers

The chemical modification of polymers is an often overlooked, albeit very challenging area of polymer science and technology. It requires the combination of diverse areas of expertise, ranging from the basics of polymer chemistry, reaction kinetics, thermodynamics and rheology, to knowledge of compounding techniques and polymer processing operations. Chemical modification of polymers is a flexible, technologically feasible, and economically viable alternative to the synthesis of new polymers. It frequently involves reactions in a solvent-free environment, for example using reactive extrusion, thus providing environmental benefits, while being economical because of the use of conventional processing equipment. However, chemical modification in its most general sense is much broader than just reactive extrusion, and may involve surface or bulk modifications in the melt state, or in solution, as the contributions in this Special Issue will attest. The most classical and perhaps well-known example of chemical modification is the process of vulcanization, which transforms an unusable material to a product with impressive engineering properties, such as resistance to heat, light, dimensional stability, mechanical strength, chemical and solvent resistance. Nowadays chemical modification techniques include a range of transformations, such as polymerization reactions, grafting/functionalization, copolymer formation, chain extension, cross-linking, branching, and controlled degradation. Specific properties targeted may be tailored molecular architectures, such as narrow polydispersity and branching, enhanced compatibility with other polymers or fillers, improved thermal stability, altered affinity to various solvents, etc. Areas of technological relevance include the production of polymers with improved processability, specialty polymers for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, recycling of commingled plastics, upgrading of the properties of biopolymers and production of novel multi-phase materials and nanocomposites. This Special Issue, entitled “Advances in chemically modified and functionalized polymers” contains contributions from some of the top research groups working in the field. It provides a flavor of various techniques utilized to produce functionalized polymers, ranging from the production of ionomers and functionalized polypropylenes to surface modification of polymers, as well as relatively new applications in nanocomposites and biopolymers. The issue begins with a review paper on approaches to prepare polypropylene with tailored molecular structures,1 and a perspective on ionomers.2 These approaches are employed to transform thermoplastics and elastomers to high value added, multi-functional polymers. Chemical modification of polyolefins is further discussed in the contributions by Shardasti et al.3 and Powell et al.4 The effects of polyolefin modification on the properties of nanocomposites are discussed by Coiai et al.5 and Oliveira and Machado.6 The contributions of Beuille et al.7 on chemical modification and Becquart et al.8 on reactive blending of biopolymers reveal the importance of this field on the newly emerging field of biopolymers. A new approach to reactive compatibilization of blends, which has been an area of traditional interest in the chemical modification of polymers is described in the paper by Oxby and Maric.9 Finally a novel specialty application in transforming the surface properties of a diverse range of polymers is presented by Bagwell et al.10 This Special Issue demonstrates the true diversity and multidisciplinarity of this area. In the future, to achieve further and more rapid advances in the field, it will be essential to pull together scientists from all fields of expertise, ranging from polymer chemists to polymer processing experts. I would like to thank all the authors and co-authors who generously contributed their work toward this Special Issue, Editor Stefan Spiegel for spearheading, and to all the reviewers and other journal contributors. I would like to dedicate this issue to the late Professor Marino Xanthos, who passed away in June 2013. He was Professor and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Prof. Xanthos was a pioneer in the field of reactive extrusion, with numerous contributions and seminal papers. In addition to reactive polymer processing, his diverse research interests included polymer blends, composites and foams, processing/structure/property relationships, and plastics environmental issues. He was author/co-author of more than 250 publications, more than 40 book chapters, editor/co-editor of four books including “Reactive Extrusion” and “Functional Fillers for Plastics” and holder of 9 US and Canadian patents. He was first the Editor and then the Executive Editor of Advances in Polymer Technology, 1990–2010. He will be sadly missed by the polymer processing community. Marianna Kontopoulou is Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She obtained her Ph.D. and Master's degrees from the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She obtained her Chemical Engineering degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. She became a faculty member of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen's University in 1999. Her research interests include polyolefin and biopolymer-based blends and composites, polymer nanocomposites, thermoplastic vulcanizates, thermoplastic elastomers and electrically conductive composites, with an emphasis on reactive modification approaches. She has co-authored more than 100 scientific publications, including peer-reviewed journal papers and conference proceedings. She is the president of the Canadian Society of Rheology and served as vice-president of the Society between 2009 and 2013. She has served as technical program committee chair, organizer and moderator for major international scientific conferences and has delivered invited lectures in academic and industrial settings.

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