Ring-Opening Polymerization (ROP) and Catalytic Rearrangement as a Way to Obtain Siloxane Mono- and Telechelics, as Well as Well-Organized Branching Centers: History and Prospects

PDMS telechelics are important both in industry and in academic research. They are used both in the free state and as part of copolymers and cross-linked materials. At present, the most important, practically used, and well-studied method for the preparation of such PDMS is diorganosiloxane ring-opening polymerization (ROP) in the presence of nucleophilic or electrophilic initiators. In our brief review, we reviewed the current advances in the field of obtaining polydiorganosiloxane telechelics and monofunctional PDMS, as well as well-organized branching centers by the ROP mechanism and catalytic rearrangement, one of the first and most important reactions in the polymer chemistry of silicones, which remains so at the present time.