Controlled nitroxide‐mediated and reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of N‐vinylpyrrolidone: Synthesis of block copolymers with styrene and 2‐vinylpyridine

Nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP) and reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization were applied to the controlled polymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone. In the case of NMP, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-(phenylethoxy)piperidine and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy radical (TEMPO) were employed as unimolecular and bimolecular initiating systems, respectively. Three different chain-transfer agents were used under various experimental conditions for the RAFT polymerization methodology. The controlled/living character of the poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) homopolymers was confirmed by the successful synthesis of block copolymers with styrene and 2-vinylpyridine.