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Review
. 2017 May 24;9(6):185.
doi: 10.3390/polym9060185.

Polyolefins, a Success Story

Dominique W Sauter  1 , Mostafa Taoufik  2 , Christophe Boisson  3
Affiliations
Review

Polyolefins, a Success Story

Dominique W Sauter et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

This paper reports the principal discoveries which have played a major role in the polyolefin field and have positioned polyolefins as the most produced plastics. The early development of polyolefins covering the production of LDPE (Low density polyethylene) at ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) and the discovery of Phillips or Ziegler-Natta catalysts are highlighted in the first section. In the second part, the impact of the implementation of molecular catalysts on the research in polyolefins is discussed together with the most recent advances leading to high-performance tailor-made resins.

Keywords: coordination catalysis; high-performance resins; history of science; macromolecular engineering; polyolefins; specialty polymers; tailor-made polymers.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Major advances in polyolefins development.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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