Ziegler-Natta Polymerization and the Remaining Challenges

摘要

Polymers have become indispensable in the 21st century, andtoday we cannot imagine life without them. However, tillaround the beginning of the last century, the science of polymerswas considered a very primitive discipline, and majorityof the scientific community did not believe that polymers evenexisted. Hermann Staudinger, among others, fought a longbattle to convince the scientific community that polymers arereal and that they are long chain molecular entities. Buildingon this rational bedrock of polymer science, Prof. KarlZiegler laid the foundation of ethylene polymerization. Asoutlined by Dr. Sivaram in his articles on Ziegler and Natta,careful observations and systematic analyses of serendipitousresults enabled Ziegler to develop the enormously significant