This textbook is intended to give an understanding of the basic principles that constitute the field of non-conventional polymers containing inorganic and organometalic units as the repeating units. Each chapter will be self-explanatory with a good background so that it can be easily understood at the senior undergraduate level. The principles involved in the preparation of these polymers, their characterisation and their applications will be discussed. Basic inorganic chemistry required for the understanding of each topic is presented so that the content of the chapter is readily understood. All the major inorganic and organometallic polymers such as polyphosphazenes, polysilanes, polysiloxanes, poly-thiazyl, poly-ferrocenes and other polymers containing main group elements will be dealt with.

Klappentext

This book has its origins in courses taught by the author to various und- graduate and graduate students at the Indian Institute of Technology, K- pur, India. The diversity of inorganic chemistry and its impact on polymer chemistry has been profound. This subject matter has grown considerably in the last decade and the need to present it in a coherent manner to young minds is a pedagogic challenge. The aim of this book is to present to the students an introduction to the developments in Inorganic and - ganometallic polymers. This book is divided into eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides a general overview on the challenges of Inorganic polymer synthesis. This is f- lowed by a survey of organic polymers and also includes some basic f- tures of polymers. Chapters 3-8 deal with prominent families of inorganic and organometallic polymers. Although the target group of this book is the undergraduate and graduate students of chemistry, chemical engineering and materials science it is also hoped that chemists and related scientists in industry would find this book useful. I am extremely thankful to my wife Sudha who not only encouraged me throughout but also drew all the Figures and Schemes of this book. I also thank my children Adithya and Aarathi for their constant concern on the progress of this book. I express my acknowledgment to the editorial team of Springer-Verlag for their cooperation.

Inhalt

Inorganic Polymers: Problems and Prospects.- Organic Polymers - A Brief Survey.- Cyclo- and Polyphosphazenes.- Cyclophosphazene-Containing Polymers.- Other Inorganic Polymers that Contain Phosphorus, Boron and Sulfur.- Polysiloxanes.- Polysilanes and Other Silicon-Containing Polymers.- Organometallic Polymers.