In this, the first book to be devoted to this leading edge technology, the author sets out the mechanisms and kinetics of template polymerization, outlines potential applications of template polymers, and compares the properties of template polymers against those of conventional polymers produced from similar monomers.

By borrowing from the techniques of biosynthesis, the emerging technology of template polymerization holds out the prospect of made-to-measure polymers with new levels of structural design and control. Just as the DNA in a living cell acts as a template for the proteins produced by the cell, so template polymerization techniques treat polymer precursors as templates on which the polymers are formed in a predetermined and controlled manner.