In the late 1920s, Hermann Staudinger propagated the existence of long, linear molecules of variable length, composed of small well-defined molecular units, covalently linked to each other to form macromolecules or polymers. This marked the beginning of one of the most diverse areas of science, where possibilities for innovation seem endless. Since then, the library of synthetic polymers has been drastically extended and nowadays, the requirements to polymers are far beyond their thermal and mechanical properties. Novel polymers are functional, they have complex property profiles and they are tailored to fulfill the requirements of the specific application.
Every day, they are making our lives easier in many different ways by improving and enhancing the functioning of countless products in fields, such as construction, automotive, textile, packaging, hygiene, and many others. As property control starts at the molecular level, the preparation of structurally well-defined macromolecules is gaining increasing importance. Considerable research efforts are made to provide efficient routes to precisely control molecular architecture, including molecular weight, polydispersity, topology (stars, combs, networks, (hyper)branched), composition and microstructure (block, graft, gradient, periodic), and functionality …
