Microwave-assisted polymerizations : the living cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-oxazolines

Microwave heating has emerged to become a common tool in pharmaceutical and organic synthesis. In recent years, the interest for microwave heating has been expanded to other fields in chemistry, including polymer chemistry. Here, we will provide an overview of microwave heating in polymer science. The principles and advantages of microwave heating will be discussed and illustrated on the basis of the living cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-oxazolines. More specifically, the acceleration of this polymerization mechanism will be described as well as investigations on the (non-)existence of non-thermal microwave effects. The last part of this contribution will demonstrate some applications of the microwaveassisted\npolymerization procedure for 2-oxazolines.