Polymerization catalysis for targeted materials: what’s new?

The transition towards a circular economy necessitates the replacement of petrochemically derived plastics with sustainable thermoplastic materials maintaining similar performances. It requires a fundamental shift in the knowledge of polymerization mechanisms moving from the classical Ziegler-Natta (ZN) to the ring opening polymerization (ROP). Building upon insights presented at the 2023 summer conference, we will report on our combined approach developed in Naples (both at the Department of Chemical Sciences and the Scuola Superiore Meridionale) for the transition to the circular economy. We will present novel findings, focusing on materials synthesized via ROP combined with a general overview of the challenging topics. The final aim is to better identify the role of the computational chemistry to the frontiers of novel tools based on machine learning