Molecular Catalysis for Precise Olefin Polymerization and ROP 2015

The growth of emerging markets, particularly in the Far East, has fuelled the demand for new plastic materials. This in turn has stimulated both academic and industrial interest in the design of catalyst systems for which new Intellectual Property (IP) can be generated, and in new polymeric materials possessing desirable properties such as biodegradability. Underpinning much of the work is synthetic chemistry and, in particular, ligand-set design. The ability to tune the electronic and steric properties of the resultant metal catalysts and thereby influence both the catalytic activity, as well as the resultant polymer properties, is proving particularly fruitful. Traditionally, early transition metals have been employed particularly for polyolefin synthesis, but in recent years late transition metals have emerged as intriguing alternatives, and each are attracting industrial interest [1]. For ring opening polymerization systems, catalysts incorporating elements from many parts of the periodic table are showing promise [2]. In this Special Issue, manuscripts focusing on aspects of new catalyst systems for the homoor co-polymerization of α-olefins, on the ring opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone, and on co-polymerizations involving CO2/cyclohexene oxide are presented [3–8]. This work will be of immense interest to those involved in catalyst design, organometallic chemistry and polymer synthesis.