POLYELECTROLYTE MATERIALS - REFLECTIONS ON A HIGHLY-CHARGED TOPIC

Beginning with an account of the basic chemistry of polyelectrolytes, this articles goes on to consider recent developments in two of their uses, i.e. environmentally acceptable industrial paints and materials for dentistry and medicine. To the paint industry, polyelectrolytes of fer the advantage of replacement of potentially damaging organic solve nts. To dentistry, polyelectrolytes offer durable materials that have good compatibility with living tissue, a property also being increasin gly exploited in other fields of medicine.