We examined the radical polymerization of 2,4,6‐triiodophenyl acrylate (TIPA), the chain‐transfer radical polymerization of TIPA in the presence of 4,4‐thiobisbenzenethiol (TBBT) or 4‐mercaptopyridine (MP), and the radical copolymerization of TIPA with 2‐hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) or 2‐(2‐ethoxyethoxy) ethyl acrylate (EEA), using AIBN as an initiator at 60 °C for 20 h. These reactions afforded poly(TIPA), TBBT‐poly(TIPA)m, MP‐poly(TIPA)m poly(TIPAm‐co‐HEAn) and poly(TIPAm‐co‐EEAn), respectively, with Mn values in the range of 3,180 to 46,550, in satisfactory yields. MP‐poly(TIPA)41 (Mn=6,880), poly(TIPA88‐co‐HEA12) (Mn=11,300), and poly(TIPA85‐co‐EEA15) (Mn=19,200) showed film‐forming ability, although poly(TIPA) and TBBT‐poly(TIPA)m did not. Among them, poly(TIPA85‐co‐EEA15) showed high values of refractive index (n) and Abbe number (ν), i. e., n=1.850 and ν=20.7.