Stereospecific living polymerization of hydrocarbon monomers

Abstract

This review article summarizes stereospecific living polymerization of hydrocarbon monomers, such as olefins, styrene and conjugated diolefins. The first part summarizes the past research results in stereospecific living polymerizations of α-olefin with vanadium, nickel, and group 4-based catalytic systems. The synthesis of stereo-block and regio-block copolymers by applying the characteristic of those living systems is also described. Vinyl addition homo- and copolymerization of norbornene with ethylene and propylene in living manner are introduced mainly according to the authors' recent results. The recent developments of stereospecific living polymerization and block copolymerization of butadiene and styrene are also summarized. The last part introduces the recent research achievements for the catalytic synthesis of monodiseperse polyolefin and olefin block copolymer, which was useful for the conquest of a defect of living system that one initiator produces only one polymer chain.