A world-class editorial board and contributing authors have assembled authoritative reviews on topics ranging from chemistry and chemical engineering to materials science, biological aspects, applications and the fate of polymers in the environment. The work includes over 250 chapters across several key areas of polymer science, such as Basic Concepts and polymer properties, Polymer Characterization, Chain Polymerization of Vinyl Monomers, Ring-opening polymerization and special polymerization processes, Polycondensation, Macromolecular Architectures and Soft Nanoobjects, etc.