Environmentally friendly products and procedures are being developed both in industry and academia, mainly due to the depletion of fossil resources and the growing global awareness of the need to protect the environment. Thus, since polyurethanes represent a highly demanded class of polymers, straightforward, isocyanate and phosgene-free methods are required for the synthesis of their precursors (monomers) in order to achieve a sustainable production. To foster the discussion with the final goal to meet such a sustainable production, this review provides an overview of classic as well as modern and more sustainable routes towards polyurethanes and their precursors.

Two decades have passed since the metathesis polymerisation of α,ω-dienes was successfully demonstrated by the group of Wagener and the term acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerisation was coined. Since then, the advances of metathesis chemistry have allowed to expand the scope of this versatile polymerisation reaction that nowadays finds applications in different fields, such as polymer, material, or medicinal chemistry. This critical review provides an insight into the historical aspects of ADMET and a detailed overview of the work done to date applying this versatile polymerisation reaction (221 references).