Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization: Applications in Eco-Friendly Polymers and Lithium-Chelating Resins

This presentation introduces functional polymer design strategies utilizing Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP), focusing on two sustainable fields: eco-friendly polymers and lithium-chelating resins. In the first part, eco-friendly polymers using nature-derived vanillin will be discussed. To address global environmental issues caused by fossil-derived plastics, we successfully developed vanillin-based homopolymers via ROMP, exhibiting polystyrene-like glassy properties, and vanillin-based ABA-type triblock copolymers to form thermoplastic elastomers. In the second part, lithium-chelating resins for lithium mining and recycling will be presented. We successfully synthesized novel polynorbornene-based resins incorporated with triethylene glycol and fluorous side chains for selective lithium capture. By engineering the polymer sequences, the resin demonstrated significantly improved lithium-to-magnesium (Li+/Mg2+) selectivity and high lithium capacity. These findings demonstrate that precisely controlled ROMP engineering can provide versatile solutions for both high-performance sustainable materials and advanced energy-critical resource recovery.