Linking chemistry and anionic polymerization

This review summarizes the most popular linking agents (chlorosilanes, chloro(bromo)methylbenzenes, divinylbenzenes, diphenylethylene derivatives), which in combination with anionic polymerization lead to a plethora of macromolecular architectures i.e., symmetric and asymmetric star, α,ω-branched, exact comb and cyclic polymers, etc. Depending on the nature of their reaction product with living macroanions, linking agents can be characterized either as non-living (neutralization of active centers) or living (creation of a new anionic active center). The chlorosilanes and chloro(bromo)methylbenzenes belong to the first category, whereas divinylbenzenes and diphenylethylene derivatives in the second. The most important examples of both categories will be discussed in this review.