Editing of Polymer Backbones

Polymers are at the epicenter of modern technological progress and ensuing environmental pollution. Considerations of both polymer functionality and lifecycle are crucial in these contexts, and the polymer backbone—the core of a polymer—is at the root of these issues. Just as the meaning of a sentence can be altered through editing the words, so too could the function and sustainability of a polymer be transformed through chemical modification of its backbone. Yet, polymer modification has primarily been focused on the polymer periphery. In this Review, we attempt to bring a greater focus to transformations of the polymer backbone by defining some concepts fundamental to this topic (e.g., “polymer backbone” and “backbone editing”), collecting and categorizing examples of backbone editing scattered throughout a century’s-worth of chemistry literature, and outlining critical directions for further research. In so doing, we lay the foundation for the field of polymer backbone editing and hope to accelerate its development.