Advances in heterometallic ring-opening (co)polymerisation catalysis.
review · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34059676.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-23192-y and PMC identifier 8167082.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Truly sustainable plastics require renewable feedstocks coupled with efficient production and end-of-life degradation/recycling processes. Some of the most useful degradable materials are aliphatic polyesters, polycarbonates and polyamides, which are often prepared via ring-opening (co)polymerisation (RO(CO)P) using an organometallic catalyst. While there has been extensive research into ligand development, heterometallic cooperativity offers an equally promising yet underexplored strategy to improve catalyst performance, as heterometallic catalysts often exhibit significant activity and selectivity enhancements compared to their homometallic counterparts. This review describes advances in heterometallic RO(CO)P catalyst design, highlighting the overarching structure-activity trends and reactivity patterns to inform future catalyst design.