This volume is based on lectures given at the NATO-Advanced Study Institute on Structure and Dynamics of Polymer and Colloid Systems held in Les Houches, France from September 14-24, 1999. The meeting arose from a perceived need to bring together scientists studying the polymer and colloid fields. Although these fields are intertwined and share many techniques (e. g. , light, neutron and x-ray scattering), it is remarkable how little the approaches and concepts used by the one field penetrate the other. For instance, the theory of spherical colloids is very highly developed and many of the concepts developed for these systems can be extended to those with non-spherical morphology, such as solutions of rigid rod polymers. In addition, mixtures of polymers and colloids, both in the bulk and at interfaces, are the basis for many industrial products. Methods are now rapidly being developed for understanding the structure and dynamics in polymer/colloid mixtures at the molecular level, but the point of view of the colloid scientist is often rather different from that of the polymer scientist. The NATO-ASI brought together polymer and colloid scientists, including many young researchers, who presented and discussed recent developments in these fields and the possibilities for cross-fertilization This volume contains articles on a wide variety of topics at the research forefront of the polymer and colloid fields by some of the world's foremost experts at a level accessible to graduate students, post-docs and researchers.

The International Symposium on Colloid and Polymer Science was held at Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, Japan, in October 1996. The program covered both the fundamental aspects as well as technological applications of micelles, microemulsions, monolayers, and biocolloids. Special emphasis was placed on formation and dynamics of self-organized structures, including technical developments, applications, general theory, and results of investigations.

Presenting a completely new approach to examining how polymers move in non-dilute solution, this book focuses on experimental facts, not theoretical speculations, and concentrates on polymer solutions, not dilute solutions or polymer melts. From centrifugation and solvent dynamics to viscosity and diffusion, experimental measurements and their quantitative representations are the core of the discussion. The book reveals several experiments never before recognized as revealing polymer solution properties. A novel approach to relaxation phenomena accurately describes viscoelasticity and dielectric relaxation and how they depend on polymer size and concentration. Ideal for graduate students and researchers interested in the properties of polymer solutions, the book covers real measurements on practical systems, including the very latest results. Every significant experimental method is presented in considerable detail, giving unprecedented coverage of polymers in solution.

Between June 6-10, 1988, the Third Chemical Congress of North America was held at the Toronto Convention Center. At this rare gathering, fifteen thousand scientists attended various symposia. In one of the symposia, Professor Pierre-Gilles de Gennes of College de France was honored as the 1988 recipient of the Amer ican Chemical Society Polymer Chemistry Award, sponsored by Mobil Chemical Corporation. For Professor de Gennes, this international setting could not be more fitting. For years, he has been a friend and a lecturer to the world scientific community. Thus, for this special occasion, his friends came to recount many of his achievements or report new research findings mostly derived from his theories or stimulated by his thoughts. In this volume of Proceedings, titled New Trends in Physics and Physical Chemistry of Polymers, we are glad to present the revised papers for the Symposium and some contributed after the Symposium. In addition, we intend to include most of the lively discussions that took plaGe during the conference. This volume contains a total of thirty-six papers divided into six parts, primarily according to the nature of the subject matter: • Adsorption of Colloids and Polymers. • Adhesion, Fractal and Wetting of Polymers. • Dynamics and Characterization of Polymer Solutions. • Diffusion and Interdiffusion of Polymers. • Entanglement and Reptation of Polymer Melts and Networks. • Phase Transitions and Gel Electrophoresis.