Controlling the microstructure during polymer synthesis is an important goal in contemporary research on polymer chemistry;it is also a subject of advanced interdisciplinary studies of polymer science

supramolecular and material science.Ladder-like polymer has attracted much attention in recent years because it

in theory

has better resistance to all kinds of degradation than the conventional polymer with single-chain."Suprarmolecular architecture directed stepwise/coupling polymerization"(SCP)

reviewed in this paper

is a polymerization method combining polymer chemistry with supramolecular chemistry.In SCP

supramolecular structure is formed at first by using weak interaction between molecules;then polymerization is conducted.Some ladder-like polymers with well-defined structure were synthesized by using SCP

including polysilsesquioxane with organo or oxygenic bridge and polyester.In other words

SCP realized the goal of controlling the microstructure with supramolecular weak interaction.In addition

this paper also discussed the applications of ladder polymers to advanced materials

such as the application in liquid crystals with ladder polymer backbone

tubular polymer based on ladder-like polymer used in entrapping the curing agent of epoxy

and quasisieve polymer which can be used in the preparation of NLO maerials.