ED-ROP of macrocyclic oligomers: A synthetic tool for multicomponent polymer materials

Entropically-driven ring-opening polymerization (ED-ROP) of strainless macrocyclic oligomers (MCOs) of condensation polymers has received a great deal of attention in the past three decades. Typical features of ED-ROP, such as no need for solvents, no emission of volatiles, practically no heat evolution, no particular need for mixing, automatic stoichiometric balance, make this process a useful synthetic tool in a variety of applications involving polymers of industrial interest. Selected examples exploiting ED-ROP of MCOs to (i) achieve multicomponent polymer materials (copolymers, blends, composites and nanocomposites), (ii) aid melt processing, (iii) enhance phase compatibility, (iv) modify material properties or (v) allow chemical recycling are reviewed.