Polymerisation of Functionalised Olefins

As with poly(a-olefin)s, the properties of polymers derived from polar monomers may be highly dependent on the stereoregularity of the polymer backbone. Moreover, copolymers of polar monomers with olefins may exhibit some 

In general, there are two ways to functionalise polyolefins via direct copolymerisation of an olefin with a polar monomer and via chemical modification of preformed polymers [508 514]. 

Although direct copolymerisation of an olefin and polar monomer has succeeded, the achievements have been rather scant. Only a limited number of polymerisation systems with polar monomers could yield copolymers via coordination polymerisation involving monomer insertion into an active metal carbon bond. 

Ziegler Natta catalysts are characterised by low activities in both olefin/ polar monomer copolymerisation and polar monomer homopolymerisation. Homopolymers of polar monomers appeared in most cases to exhibit properties that were very similar to those of homopolymers obtained by radically initiated polymerisations this testifies to the radical mechanism that operates in such polymerisations [28]. 

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