The importance of the nature of initiator and solvent in atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate catalyzed by copper(I) N‐alkyl‐2‐pyridylmethanimine complexes

The effect of the nature of initiator and solvent in atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) using N‐pentyl‐2‐pyridylmethanimine as the ligand in the presence of Cu(I)Br has been investigated. Under identical concentration and temperature conditions, p‐toluenesulfonyl chloride (p‐TsCl) in diphenyl ether gives polymerization rates identical to ethyl 2‐bromoisobutyrate in xylene. However, the former system induces better control of molecular weights and lower polydispersities.