Giant Molecules

From Nylon to Nanotubes
Erscheinungsjahr 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-956213-8
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 268 Seiten, Format (B × H): 129 mm x 198 mm, Gewicht: 289 g

Our lives are dominated by giant molecules, which have remarkable properties, some of which are only just being discovered and exploited by science, though many have long been exploited far more effectively by Nature. Giant molecules dominate our lives - from the proteins and DNA within us to the man-made fibres of our clothes and the many plastics that we use every day. And they are set to have an enormous impact on the future, as scientists and engineers learn from nature (biomimetics), and utilize the full potential of tiny carbon nanotubes. The possibilities may seem like science fiction - a space station tethered to Earth by cables of giant molecules, tiny molecular vehicles carrying and dispensing drugs in our bodies, smart materials that adjust automatically to optimize our comfort, minute computers utilizing the information storage capacity of DNA - but they are the subjects of cutting edge research.

Walter Gratzer gives a fascinating account of the discovery and variety of giant molecules, how they come to have their remarkable properties, and how these are used by Nature and increasingly by us, pausing now and again to tell of some of the remarkable characters involved in their discovery and development.

Zielgruppe

General popular science readers interested in molecules, chemistry, and modern materials. Also students of chemistry, molecular biology, and physics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gratzer, Walter

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Chemie Organische Chemie Polymerchemie
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Angewandte Physik Biophysik
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Molekularbiologie
• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Nanotechnologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biochemie (nichtmedizinisch)
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Naturwissenschaften, Technik, Medizin
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Angewandte Biologie Biophysik
• Naturwissenschaften Chemie Organische Chemie Supramolekularchemie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1: Before the dawn
2: The basics: a little chemistry
3: Proteins: from skin and bone to enzymes
4: Storage: of food and information
5: The protean element: carbon in new guises
6: The plastic world
7: The quiddity of polymers: shapes, sizes, and their effects
8: The new age: giant molecules for the 21st century
9: Present and future: where will it end?
10: The many faces of DNA
Further Reading
Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Walter Gratzer is a biophysicist. He has spent most of his career at King's College London, with spells at Harvard and Columbia Universities. He is now Emeritus Professor at King's. Professor Gratzer has published numerous scientific papers, and many articles and reviews. He is the author of the popular science books Eurekas and Euphorias, The Undergrowth of Science: Delusion, Self-Deception and Human Frailty, and Terrors of the Table.