Linear PPA is produced by anionic polymerization methods using a strong nucleophile as an initiator. This technique prevents the cyclization of the polymer chain as the propagating species have only one charged terminus that cannot backbite the other terminus which, in turn, is neutral in charge. Although processing linear PPA requires highly sensitive reaction conditions and is more time demanding, this type of polymer has many advantages over its cyclic counterpart. For instance, a control over the polymer's molar mass can easily be achieved by controlling the monomer and alcohol initiator ratios. Furthermore, it has been proven to be more thermally stable than its cyclic counterpart due to the presence of functionalized endcaps that stabilizes the polymer chain from depolymerization. For these reasons, it has been studied to a far greater extent than cyclic PPA. Various linear PPA with distinct end groups have been reported and studied for a variety of applications including sensing, drug delivery, and lithography. For instance, once these end groups are cleaved as a response to the exposure of PPA to a specific stimulus, the polymer will sequentially disassemble from head to tail through an unzipping reaction to form the monomer in short times that can be as low as a few minutes.