Biopolymers are endowed with excellent attributes such as biodegradability, biocompatibility and functional versatility, which render them an edge over other polymers. Today, they find broad applications in the biomedical field and pharmaceutical world. Nanotechnology has offered tremendous opportunities to design and tailor-make biopolymers augmenting their applications further. This book presents topical articles on the synthesis and applications of biopolymers, biopolymer nanoparticles and nanocomposites. The book includes chapters on conducting polymers, vegetable oils, chitosan and cellulose based polyurethanes, polymeric hydrogels, biopolymeric nanoparticles and nanocomposites, and their applications as drug carriers and sensors in cancer therapy and others. This book would be useful for students, scholars, and scientists interested in the synthesis, biomedical and pharmaceutical applications of biopolymers and their nanocomposites.
Dr Eram Sharmin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. She has pursued her PhD [Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), (A Central University), New Delhi, India, in the year 2007], MSc [Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh, UP, India in the year 2000] and BSc (AMU in the year 1998) degree in Chemistry. She has previously worked as Senior Research Associate/ Scientist Pool (Under Scientists' Pool Scheme, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India), Research Associate and Senior Research Fellow (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, India), at the Department of Chemistry, JMI, New Delhi, India. She has more than 50 publications in refereed journals and books, and has presented more than 30 research papers in national and international conferences. Her research interests include green organic-inorganic hybrid and composite materials as antimicrobial and corrosion resistant films, coatings and packaging materials.