Polyolefin is a major industry that is important for our economy and impacts every aspect of our lives. The discovery of new transition metal-based catalysts is one of the driving forces for the further advancement of this field. Whereas the classical heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalysts and homogeneous early transition metal metallocene catalysts remain the workhorses of the polyolefin industry, in roughly the last decade, tremendous progress has been made in developing non-metallocene-based olefin polymerization catalysts. Particularly, the discovery of late transition metal-based olefin polymerization catalysts heralds a new era for this field. These late transition metal complexes not only exhibit high activities rivaling their early metal counterparts, but more importantly they offer unique properties for polymer architectural control and copolymerization with polar olefins. In this book, the most recent major breakthroughs in the development of new olefin polymerization catalysts, including early metal metallocene and non-metallocene complexes and late transition metal complexes, are discussed by leading experts. The authors highlight the most important discoveries in catalysts and their applications in designing new polyolefin-based functional materials.
From the reviews:
"This volume contains seven chapters that focus on various aspects of current research into olefin polymerization. ? Each chapter is authored or coauthored by well-recognized experts in the field. The material is well written and provides the reader with a considerable amount of interesting and useful factual information. ? This book will be of interest to academics and industrial scientists involved in the design of catalysts for olefin polymerization and should be in the reference section of every good chemistry library." (Richard A. Jones, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 132 (12), 2010)
