History of Organometallic Polymers

In the last 20 years a wide variety of new types of polymers has been prepared containing metals as an integral part of the polymer backbone. This paper summarizes deveopments in the following major areas: vinylic polymers, including vinyl metal-locene derivatives and vinylic tin monomers; condensation polymers; polyorganophosphazenes; coordination polymers; mixed valence polymers with electrical conductivity such as (SN)_x, polyacetylene and polyphenylene; stacked polymers such as platinum blue, polyphthalocyanines, and TTF-TCNQ. The methods of synthesis and potential applications of these materials in areas such as catalysis, elastomers with low and high temperature stability, metallic conductors, semiconductors, bacteriacides, fungicides, and cancer chemotherapeutic agents are discussed.