Multinuclear Catalyst: An Efficient Tool for the Synthesis of Polyesters and Polycarbonates by Ring-opening Polymerization

Stemming from the simultaneous activation among multiple metal centers, many multinuclear catalysts show markedly higher reaction rate and selectivity on a wide array of reactions. Inspired by these seminal discoveries, there has been a recent surge of interest in developing polymerization catalysts with three or more metal centers to achieve high activity, stereoselectivity and sequence controllability. In the multinuclear catalysts, the electron-absorbing effect between neighboring Lewis acid atoms was discovered to significantly enhance a multitude of catalytic properties. At the same time, the modification of the organic ligand structure can dramatically change the catalytic activity of the catalyst, widen the scope of copolymerization systems and simplify the catalytic system. In this review, the state-of-the-art design strategies, successful applications and catalytic performance of multinuclear organometallic catalysts are overviewed.