The development of degradable polymers has commanded significant attention over the past half century. Approaches have predominantly relied on ring-opening polymerization of cyclic esters (e.g., lactones, lactides) and N-carboxyanhydrides, as well as radical ring-opening polymerizations of cyclic ketene acetals. In recent years, there has been a significant effort applied to expand the family of degradable polymers accessible via olefin metathesis polymerization. Given the excellent functional group tolerance of olefin metathesis polymerization reactions generally, a broad range of conceivable degradable moieties can be incorporated into appropriate monomers and thus into polymer backbones. This approach has proven particularly versatile in synthesizing a broad spectrum of degradable polymers including poly(ester), poly(amino acid), poly(acetal), poly(carbonate), poly(phosphoester), poly(phosphoramidate), poly(enol ether), poly(azobenzene), poly(disulfide), poly(sulfonate ester), poly(silyl ether), and poly(oxazinone) among others. In this review, we will highlight the main olefin metathesis polymerization strategies that have been used to access degradable polymers, including (i) acyclic diene metathesis polymerization, (ii) entropy-driven and (iii) enthalpy-driven ring-opening metathesis polymerization, as well as (iv) cascade enyne metathesis polymerization. In addition, the livingness or control of polymerization reactions via different strategies are highlighted and compared. Potential applications, challenges and future perspectives of this new library of degradable polyolefins are discussed. It is clear from recent and accelerating developments in this field that olefin metathesis polymerization represents a powerful synthetic tool towards degradable polymers with novel structures and properties inaccessible by other polymerization approaches.

在过去的半个世纪里，可降解聚合物的开发受到了极大的关注。方法主要依赖于环酯（例如内酯、丙交酯）和N-羧酸酐的开环聚合，以及环烯酮缩醛的自由基开环聚合。近年来，人们付出了巨大的努力来扩展可通过以下途径获得的可降解聚合物系列烯烃复分解聚合。鉴于烯烃复分解聚合反应通常具有优异的官能团耐受性，可以将范围广泛的可降解部分结合到合适的单体中，从而结合到聚合物主链中。这种方法已被证明在合成广泛的可降解聚合物方面特别通用，包括聚（酯）、聚（氨基酸）、聚（缩醛）、聚（碳酸酯）、聚（磷酸酯）、聚（氨基磷酸酯）、聚（烯醇醚） )、聚（偶氮苯）、聚（二硫化物）、聚（磺酸酯）、聚（甲硅烷基醚）和聚（恶嗪酮）等。在这篇综述中，我们将重点介绍用于获得可降解聚合物的主要烯烃复分解聚合策略，包括（i）无环二烯复分解聚合，（ii )熵驱动和( iii )焓驱动的开环复分解聚合，以及( iv )级联烯炔复分解聚合。此外，还强调并比较了通过不同策略对聚合反应的活性或控制。讨论了这个新的可降解聚烯烃库的潜在应用、挑战和未来前景。从该领域最近和加速的发展中可以清楚地看出，烯烃复分解聚合是一种强大的合成工具，可用于制备具有其他聚合方法无法获得的新型结构和性能的可降解聚合物。