The new book of Professor Paul Flory is an important event in polymer physics. An outstanding scientist who has made many valuable contributions t,o the field has written a book which not only completes the structure of statistical mechanics of chain molecules but contains much new information obtained during recent years-mainly by the author and his collaborators.I n the first chapter the spatial configurations of chain molecules are analyzed and most important theoretical models are treated. The book does not contain the details of the theory of excluded volume effect. However the general physical ideas about the "theta point" and "theta solvents" suggested by Flory two decades ago are exposed in a very clear and exact form. The same must be said about the temperature coefficients of dimensions of macromolecules. The interdependence of internal rotation in the chain is treated in the third chapter, containing an elegant mathematical descrip t,ion of the configurational statistics of chain molecules based both on rotational isomerism and on the concept of cooperativity. Very interesting and important results obtained recently by Flory and Jernigan concerning statistical properties of finite length chains are also included in this chapter. It, ends with a very educational analysis of the difference between Markoff chains and polymeric chains with configurational statistics.Chapter IV presents the mathematical treatment of the moments of chain molecules which are needed for the calculations of a series of geometrical and physical properties. This chapter contains also an important theory of Markoffian copolymers and an application of the theoretical physics of macromolecules to the chemistry of polymer synthesis. The method given by Flory will have important applications also in molecular biophysics and in the theory of biochemical evolution.It contains the detailed mathematical description of internal rotation in a series of most important chain molecules such as polymethylene, polytetrafluorethylene, polymeric sulfur, polyoxymethylene, polyoxyethylene, polydimethylsiloxane, polyamides, polyesters, polyisobutylene, and butadienes and isoprene polymers. This list shows that the general theory is not an abstract concept but an extremely useful tool for the analysis of the properties of most real polymers.The reader will find here many new results such as, for instance, a refined theory of equilibrium configuration statistics. Chapter VII is particularly important not only for polymer science but also for molecular biology and biophysics since it deals with polypeptides, proteins, and related substances. Many new data were obtained by the author and his associates concerning the configurational properties of several amino acid residues and also of the lactic acid unit. The theory of average dimensions of copolypeptides and the theory of configurational transitions are also included in this chapter.Chapter VIII treats the statistical distribution of configurations and contains the comparison of various model chains w...
A short review of the works of the author and his co‐workers in the field of configurational statistics of macromolecules is given. Results are quoted of the calculations relating the dimensions, dipole moments, and optical anisotropies of the chains with the conditions of internal rotation and stereoisomerism. Isotactic and syndiotactic chains are examined. The fundamental ideas of the mathematical methods developed are quoted. The calculations are carried out in usual approximation assuming the independence of the rotations around neighbor bonds, and in the next approximations taking into account the correlation of internal rotations inside monomeric units and between them. Comparison of the theory with experiment, using the rotational‐isomeric approximation, has shown in particular that the dimensions and the optical anisotropy of the polyisobutylene molecules can be explained by the examination of their configurations in the crystalline state. The excluded volume effects in the branched chains and their influence on the asymmetry of light scattering are investigated. Some experimental results are explained with the help of this investigation.
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