“Catalyst design”, meaning the rational invention of a well-defined active species for a targeted application, is often associated with the metallocene and post-metallocene breakthroughs in stereoselective olefin polymerization. The rapid and apparently endless implementation of new catalysts, leading to an amazing variety of largely unprecedented homopolymer and copolymer architectures, is actually perceived as a most convincing demonstration of the said association. In reality, designing one such catalyst from scratch is still a dream, and behind all reported discoveries is the classical mix of hard work and serendipity.

G. Talarico, V. Busico and L. Cavallo, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003, 125, 7172–73.