Molecular Advances in Water-Soluble Polymers: From Characterization, Surface Behaviour to Application

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the upcoming Special Issue of IJMS, entitled “Molecular Advances in Water-Soluble Polymers: From Characterization, Surface Behaviour to Application”.

The stabilizing and destabilizing properties of polymers which are soluble in aqueous environments are used in numerous technological and ecological processes, leading to the separation of troublesome and toxic substances. Research on aquatic systems is extremely important because it is a solvent, friendly to living organisms, and is common in all elements of ecosystem. Among the wide range of applications of macromolecular compounds, the most promising are in dyeing, varnishing, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries, medicine, drinking water purification and industrial wastewater treatment, as well as soil erosion reduction.

The possibility of influencing the stability of the aqueous suspensions of solids by adding an appropriately selected polymer stems primarily from the fact that, depending on system conditions, macromolecules can adopt specific conformations at the interface. The way in which polymer chains bind with active sites on a solid surface influences the specific structure of the formed adsorption layer, which translates directly into the stability of this type of colloidal system.

I therefore invite academic and industrial researchers working in all these fields to submit scientific articles, reviews and short communications discussing the latest developments in the synthesis, characterization, surface behaviour and application of water-soluble polymers (both of natural and synthetic origin). The investigation of their usage is extremely important for the development of innovative and sustainable technologies, e.g., in wastewater treatment as flocculants, in soil remediation as aggregation-inducing agents, in cosmetic products design as stabilizers, in drug delivery system elaboration as solubility-improving substances, ligands and linkers, in food processing as thickeners and stabilizers, etc. Original investigations, as well as concise review manuscripts from experts in relevant research fields, are invited for publication. Papers without molecular investigations will not be considered.

Prof. Dr. Małgorzata Wiśniewska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• water-soluble polymers
• colloidal system stability
• polymer chain conformation
• toxic substances separation
• suspension flocculation
• polymer adsorption
• surface behavior