Currently, there is a growing interest in the development of suitable methods for the preparation of eco-friendly and biocompatible materials in order to increase environmental protection and reduce human health risk. Therefore, this mini-review summarizes several studies involving lactides and lactones as monomers for the synthesis of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers via metal-catalyzed Ring-Opening Polymerization (ROP). Hence, synthetic approaches involving mono, bi and trinuclear metallic catalysts, with different catalytic activity, were reviewed. Complexes mostly based on metals such as Na, Mg, Al, Ti, Zn are considered. Generally, from ROP reactions, it has been found that conversion, stereoselectivity, number-average molar mass (M_n) and dispersity of the molar mass (Ð) of polymers are influenced by the type of monomer, the characteristics of the catalyst, the nature of the solvent, temperature and reaction time. Additionally, the polymer properties can also be controlled by varying the molar ratios between the monomer and the initiating system. Thus, this review may be found helpful for the scientific community and students involved in research in different areas of chemistry such as organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, polymers chemistry, and materials science. The survey covers selected data published between 2017 and 2020; however, previous relevant reports were also studied.

目前，人们越来越关注开发合适的方法来制备生态友好和生物相容性材料，以增加环境保护并降低人类健康风险。因此，这篇小型综述总结了几项涉及丙交酯和内酯作为单体通过金属催化开环聚合 (ROP) 合成可生物降解和生物相容性聚合物的研究。因此，综述了涉及具有不同催化活性的单核、双核和三核金属催化剂的合成方法。主要基于金属如 Na、Mg、Al、Ti、Zn 的配合物被考虑。通常，从 ROP 反应中，已经发现转化率、立体选择性、数均摩尔质量 (M _n) 和聚合物摩尔质量 (Ð) 的分散性受单体类型、催化剂特性、溶剂性质、温度和反应时间的影响。此外，还可以通过改变单体和引发体系之间的摩尔比来控制聚合物的性能。因此，这篇综述可能对参与不同化学领域（如有机化学、无机化学、聚合物化学和材料科学）研究的科学界和学生有所帮助。调查涵盖了 2017 年至 2020 年间发布的部分数据；但是，之前的相关报告也被研究过。