"The frontiers of polymer chemistry have been expanded tremendously by the revolutionary work of Drs. Heeger, MacDiarmid and Shirakawa. Their groundbreaking research is the foundation that may ultimately lead to the development of materials that can be used to make lightweight batteries for cars, antistatic film, electromagnetic shields, ultra-thin computer monitors and TV sets, coatings that can stop metal from rusting and as nerve replacement in muscles, just to name a few applications. The awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is a testament to the vitality and importance of this burgeoning area of research."
Daryle Busch, Ph.D., is president of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society with 161,000 members. He is the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Investigations into conducting polymers, essentially plastics that are capable of carrying current, began in the late 1970s. They can be used in flat television screens, to replace nerves and muscles, to protect against corrosion and to detect potentially harmful gases. Conducting polymers are very flexible and can be used where standard metal or metallic conductors cannot; they are also cheaper and lighter than metallic conductors. Permeability to gas and water can also be tailored to specific uses.
Alan MacDiarmid, Ph.D., is an affiliate of the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering. He received the 1999 ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials and the 1971 Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry. Alan Heeger, Ph.D., has been a member of ACS for 15 years.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Arthur Epstein, Ph.D., Ohio State University, 614-292-1133
Eli Pearce, Ph.D., Herman F. Mark Polymer Research Institute, 718-260-3030
John Reynolds, Ph.D., University of Florida, 352-392-9151