The State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry is officially approved by the National Ministry of Science and Technology of China in 2000. The Laboratory is as a result of a reorganization of the original Open Laboratory of Polymer Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and several polymer chemistry laboratories of the Institute of Chemistry and Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, CAS, within both of which the Laboratory runs its operations.    

Fundamental understanding of polymer physics and polymer chemistry, as an integrated part of materials science, is the main research direction of the Laboratory.  The Laboratory represents the growth of polymer science in China over the past half century.  It also reflects a drastic development of our understanding in this area around the world.  Now an interdisciplinary macromolecular science and engineering is rapidly emerging, a field at the crossroads of materials science, engineering and fundamental sciences.  The research directions have a critical presence in the new century and have been continuously penetrating into the fields of agriculture, chemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, manufacturing, infrastructure, electronic, and information technology.  The rapidly growing knowledge base in biology requires just the novel developments in polymer science and engineering.  Interdisciplinary research in this field will also play a critical role in nanotechnologies, another emerging area of importance in this century. 

The aim of this Laboratory is to continuously explore new molecular designs in macromolecular structures in polymer crystals and mesophases, catalysts, molecular and cell biology, nanotechnology, and supramolecular materials science.  We will also focus on new types of research innovations and implement these discoveries into technologies.  We hope that the Laboratory will become one of the most important interdisciplinary research centers in China for scientific innovations and education, bring impact to our nation?¯s economy, and promote further domestic and international scientific collaborations.

At present, the main research directions of the Laboratory are:

?¤ Condensing and condensed state of macromolecular chains;

?¤ Soft matter characteristics of macromolecules;

?¤ Thermodynamics and kinetics of complex polymer systems;

?¤ Molecular engineering of functional polymers;

?¤ Controlling the structure and optimization of the properties of polymers.

Currently, the Laboratory has 50 scientists and 20 research staffs. 150 M.S. and Ph.D graduate students are admitted every year to the Laboratory. Executive director(s), appointed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences every five years, are responsible for laboratory management.  The current Director and Deputy Directors are Professor Tianbai He and Professors Xigao Jin and Jian Xu, respectively.

The Laboratory has an Academic Advisory Board, members of which are prominent scientists from various research institutions and universities of China and other nations.

This annual report reflects the research activities and latest achievements of the Laboratory in the last calendar year.  Full papers on these results will be submitted to international and domestic journals for publication.