Ziegler-Natta catalysis: 50 years after the Nobel Prize

Fifty years after the Nobel Prize was awarded to Ziegler and Natta, the transition-metal catalyzed polymerization of olefins remains one of the most important reactions conducted on the industrial scale and the subject of industrial as well as academic research. This introductory article will provide a short historical review of the discovery of catalyzed olefin polymerization by Ziegler, Natta, and others and its development in the years following the Nobel Prize, as well as giving insight into Ziegler-Natta polymerization for the nonspecialist.