Chapter 6: Titanium-based Catalysts for Polymer Synthesis

After many years of pre-eminence, titanium-based Ziegler–Natta catalysts and their derivatives have generated outstanding scientific breakthroughs and commercial successes in the synthesis of “petropolymers”. Nowadays, the need for greener polymers that are biodegradable and/or obtained from bioderived monomers receives steadily more attention in our society due to the uncertain future for carbon-source supply from petroleum and has reanimated research efforts towards the use of more sustainable and biocompatible metals such as titanium. Thus, this chapter deals with some examples of structurally well-defined titanium catalysts developed for coordination–insertion polymerisation as an effective method for the synthesis of polyesters, polycarbonates and poly(methyl acrylate) derivatives that are biodegradable or synthesised from bioderived monomers or both.