In general, the chemical structure of a polymer is described as (structure of the repeating unit)n, which implies that the structure of the repeating unit and the degree of polymerization (DP), n, strongly influence the properties and functions of polymers. However, we should not overlook the termini of the polymer that are not included in the standard polymer description. For example, a polymer with DP of 100 has 2% of its "repeating units" at the termini, which is not insignificant. In addition, recent advances in precision polymerization have allowed us to design polymer termini, and consequently, many intriguing functional materials have emerged. This special issue focuses on forefront research on polymer termini.
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