Polyolefin Polyolefin List of Americo-Liberians A polyolefin is a polymer produced from a simple Olefin, or Alkene as a Monomer. For example, Polyethylene is the polyolefin made from the olefin Ethylene. An equivalent term is polyalkene; both terms are mostly archaic, though polyolefin is still used in the Petrochemical industry.

A more specific type of olefin is a poly-alpha-olefin (or poly-α-olefin), a polymer made by polymerizing an alpha-olefin. An alpha-olefin (or α-olefin) is an alkene where the carbon-carbon double bond starts at the α-carbon atom, i. e. the double bond is between the #1 and #2 carbons in the Molecule. Poly-alpha-olefins are useful as synthetic lubricants.