Recent developments with strained metallocenophanes

Strained ferrocenophanes have been known for over 50 years but interest in these fascinating organometallic species and their analogues expanded in the early 1990s when their use as metallopolymer precursors via ring-opening polymerisation was demonstrated. A recent focus in our group has been on the introduction of transition metals as bridging elements, their general thermal polymerization mechanisms, and the development of metallocenophanes based on elements other than iron, especially earth-abundant elements. This article provides an overview of our recent work in each of these areas. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.