Polymeric materials research opportunities

Polymers and copolymers are among the most beneficial materials produced by synthetic chemistry. The invention and commercialization of new polymeric materials with radical new properties provides an opportunity to monopolize the market and justify the expense involved in the research and development. The commercialization of new polymers or copolymers always presents scale-up and design challenges. Scientists have recently developed new polymeric materials whose commercial impact has yet to be realized. Examples are semiconductive and conductive polymers and amphiphilic dendritic block copolymers. Other promising materials, such as polymers for (targeted) drug delivery and... 

F. Wudl, in J. L. Bredas and R. R. Chance, eds., NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Conjugated Polymeric Materials Opportunities in Electronics, Optoelectronics and Molecular Electronics (NATO ASI Series, Applied Science, No. 182), Kluwer Publishers, Mons, Belgium, 1989. 

Stereoregular a-olefin polymerization by early transition metal Ziegler-type compounds was first reported in 1955 by Natta et al. Since then, major industrial and academic research efforts have focused mainly on the development of highly efficient, stereoselective catalyst systems for propylene polymerization. Concurrently, the polymerization of higher a-olefins was also investigated, with the hope of revealing new opportunities in the field of polymeric materials. 

Because of the wide range of scientific research and applications about polymeric materials, it s hard to classify all the advances in polymer science and link them with application opportunities. Thus choosing a specific advanced polymeric material and trying to determine the possible future applications for this material was thought to be a good starting point. 

The above achievements depend highly on both the recent advances in rational catalyst design with the aid of computational science represented by DFT calculations and the wide range of catalyst design possibilities that are afforded by FI catalysts. These possibilities are derived from the readily varied steric and electronic properties of the phenoxy-imine ligands. It is expected that future research on FI catalysts will provide opportunities to produce additional polyolefin-based materials with unique microstructures and a chance to study catalysis and mechanisms for olefin polymerization. 

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