The Barbier reaction is generally regarded as a one-pot Grignard reaction. Here, Grignard reaction of cinnamaldehyde is demonstrated to give 1,2-addition product, while Barbier reaction of cinnamaldehyde yields macromolecule with...

The Barbier reaction, a classical name reaction for carbon‐carbon bond formation, has played important roles in organic chemistry for over 120 years. The introduction of the Barbier reaction into polymer chemistry for the development of a novel Barbier polymerization, expands the methodology, monomer, chemical structure and property libraries of polymerization, aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) and non‐traditional intrinsic luminescence (NTIL). This mini review focuses on Barbier polymerization, including the brief introduction of the history and importance of polymerization methods design and the achievements of Barbier polymerization from molecular design strategies, functionalities and properties. An outlook of Barbier polymerization is also proposed. This mini review on Barbier polymerization therefore may cause inspirations to scientists in different fields.