Editorial

Citation

(2005), "Editorial", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 34 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2005.12934baa.001

Editorial

At Pigment & Resin Technology, we believe that readers are interested in recent developments relevant to pigment and resin technology in a broad sense. That is the exact reason why the Editorial Team introduced the sub-title “The International Journal of Colorants, Polymers and Colour Applications”.

In his many years of close collaboration with industry, the Editor has experienced the benefit of an open-minded and exploratory approach to studies and investigations. Indeed, such an approach has enabled the Editor to expand his research interest into many areas of science and technology. Many readers would undoubtedly have similar experience.

This issue focuses on the synthesis and application of polymers for a variety of applications. Polymers are the essential component in targetable drug delivery. Recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of materials suitable for the preparation of macromolecular drugs. This issue includes a report on the work on the synthesis and characterisation of poly-2-(N-phthalimido) ethyl acrylate. It was found that such a polymer could undergo exchange reactions with hydroxyl and amino compounds thus making it ideal material for the preparation of polymeric drugs.

In addition to the wide-spread application of polymers as the essential ingredient of surface coating, polymers have also found applications in paper industry and printing plate industry. Thus, both chemical and mechanical properties of the surface coating, the paper and the printing plate may be significantly improved using polymeric materials.

Readers may not be aware of the National Research Centre in Cairo, Egypt, which houses a significant number of well- known scientists. Good collaborative relationships between this centre and several research centres around the world have been established. This issue contains two papers on the application of polymer in paper-making, contributed by the scientists in this centre. The Editor expects to see more contributions from this centre in future.

Despite the recent progress in the digital printing technology, polymeric printing plates still dominate the image carrier arena. Indeed, photochemical polymer is still the most versatile material for and the most essential component in printing plates. The paper contributed by Galton reported on the study of the effect of polymeric printing plate on the quality of the printed images.

With the advent of nano-technology, polymers have been studied at a very different, un-conventional level. The Editorial Team would like to encourage contributions from authors in the field of nano-polymer field.