ROMP and MCP as Versatile and Forceful Tools to Fabricate Dendronized Polymers for Functional Applications

Due to their unique physical and chemical features, dendronized polymers (DPs) have received increasing attention in various fields such as hierarchically structured materials, stimuli-responsive materials, catalysis, biosciences, optoelectronic devices, and so on. A large number of synthetic strategies also have been reported to prepare various functionalized DPs. Among these strategies, ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and metathesis cyclopolymerization (MCP) using highly active and group-tolerant Ru-based catalysts as initiators were used as living and controlled techniques to fabricate well-defined DPs. The two efficient techniques present a promising prospect in the design and preparation of functional DPs. In this review, we focus on the synthesis of various classes of DPs by ROMP and MCP of dendritic macromonomers, and describe their characteristic structures and properties, as well as various functional applications.