Precision Oligomeric Building Blocks toward Chemically Recyclable Polyolefin-like Materials

The development of chemically recyclable polyolefin-like materials that combine the performance of conventional polyolefins with controlled degradability remains a significant challenge in polymer sustainability. Achieving this goal requires precise control over polymer architecture and the placement of cleavable linkages to enable efficient depolymerization. Precision oligomeric building blocks act as molecular Lego blocks, providing a modular and programmable platform for constructing polyolefin analogues with well-defined structures. Their discrete and uniform nature allows for the strategic incorporation of cleavable sites at predetermined positions, enabling tunable degradation pathways and predictable end-of-life behavior. Compared to traditional polymerization methods, this approach offers enhanced architectural control, sequence definition, and functional site incorporation. This review highlights recent advances in the synthesis and application of these precision oligomeric building blocks toward chemically recyclable polyolefin-like polymers. Emphasis is placed on how their structural precision and modularity enable the construction of high-performance, recyclable polyolefin analogues.