Living cationic polymerization of olefins. How did the discovery come about?

The tortuous road to living carbocationic polymerizations is chronicled. Th e impetus for this project was my conviction that, just as living anionic p olymerizations have started with a critical insight, a similar breakthrough will also be possible with cations. Upon retrospect, the facts show a thre e-step progression to the objective: Discovery of 1) controlled initiation, 2) reversible termination (quasiliving systems), and 3) controlled chain t ransfer. But what good is the discovery of a process without demonstrating its usefulness in terms of desirable products? Thus, a section concerns uni que microarchitectures obtainable only by this technique: functional liquid s, telechelics, thermoplastic elastomers, etc. The marketing of some of the se products has already started, and the fundamental exploration of the pro mises of this technique is in progress worldwide. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Son s, Inc.