Milan Polytechnic

Giulio Natta (1903-1979) was born in Imperia, near Genoa, Italy, and received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Milan Polytechnic in 1924. After holding positions at the universities of Pavia, Rome, and Turin, he returned to Milan in 1938 as professor of industrial chemistry. For his work on developing methods of polymer synthesis, he shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Karl Ziegler. 

To conclude this review I must pay a tribute to the work and figure of Giulio Natta who pioneered macromolecular stereochemistry and was an active protagonist in die field for many years. The most important aspects of his discoveries and the present significance of the research derived therefrom have been illustrated by his students and by scientists from all over the world (16, 18). As may be seen finom the present article, many of the fundamental discoveries were derived from the work of his research group at the Milan Polytechnic. A large part of the later development, also, is the fruit of a cultural tradition that has influenced the whole Italian school of polymer chemistry. 

The behavior of the different catalytic systems (containing transition metal crystalline compounds) in the a-olefin polymerization, except for the different degree of stereospecificity, may be connected with a definite kinetic scheme. This was shown by experimental work performed at the Institute of Industrial Chemistry of the Milan Polytechnic. 

Karl Ziegler (1898-1973, German chemist. Director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research at Mulheim an der Ruhr) Giulio Natta (1903-1979, Italian chemist. Professor at the Milan Polytechnic and Research Director of Industrial Chemistry). Both shared in 1963 the Nobel Prize for their work on polymerization. 

Michigan, University of 228 Michin Technological Institute 187 Midland Macromolecular Institute 124 Milan Polytechnic 210 Miles, G.W. 8 Miles, W.D. 171... 

Franco Piacenti was bom in Florence on 1 July 1927. He completed his entire course of study in his hometown in 1951, majoring in Chemistry under the guidance of Luigi Sacconi (1911-92). Immediately after graduation, he moved to Milan Polytechnic Institute where his mentor was the future Nobel laureate Giulio Natta (1903-1979). At that time, Natta was conducting research on the polymerization of polypropylene which, in 1963, earned him his Nobel Prize, which he shared with Karl Ziegler (1898-1973), who prepared the catalysts that Natta used in his research [33]. 

When Rj is different from R2 in Formula (1.1) the carbon atom is asymmetric and may have d or 7 forms. If all the asymmetric carbon atoms have either d or 7 forms, the polymer chain is said to be isotactic. If these carbon atoms are instead alternating d and 7 , the polymer chain is said to be syndiotactic. If the d and 7 assignments are random along the chain, it is said to be atactic [8,18-20] (see Fig. 1.1). Isotactic polypropylene, poly(butene-l) and poly(4-methylpentene-l) are commercially available. Both isotactic and syndiotactic polypropylene and polystyrene have been synthesized, subjected to extensive investigation. The two isomeric polymers have different crystal structures and their atactic forms do not crystallize. Isotactic and syndiotactic polymers were originally developed by Natta and his coworkers [18, 19] at Milan Polytechnic and Montecatini. In recent years, there has been interest in producing polyolefins with controlled intermediate tacticities [20]. 

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