Update and challenges in organo-mediated polymerization reactions

Organocatalysis has become a very powerful tool for precision macromolecular chemistry, as judged by the number of articles published in this field in the past decade. A variety of small organic molecules, including Brønsted/Lewis bases and acids, based on amines, phosphines or carbenes, but also on bi-component systems, have been employed as a means to catalyze the polymerization of miscellaneous monomers. Not only can organocatalysts be employed to promote the ring-opening polymerization of various heterocyclics (e.g. lactones, lactide, cyclic carbonates, epoxides, lactams, cyclocarbosiloxanes), but some of them also allow activating vinylic monomers such as (meth)acrylics, or triggering the step-growth polymerization of monomers such as diisocyanates and diols for polyurethane synthesis. The reduced toxicity of organocatalysts in comparison to their metallic counterparts is also driving their development in some sensitive applications, such as biomedical or microelectronics. Overall, organocatalysts display specific monomer activation modes, thereby providing a unique opportunity to control the polymerization of various functional monomers, under mild conditions. This review article focuses on advances of the past 4 years (>150 publications) in polymerization reactions utilizing small organic molecules either as direct initiators or as true catalysts, with a special emphasis on monomer activation modes, as well as polymerization mechanism aspects.