Poly(acrylate)s as well as poly(methacrylate)s were successfully synthesized via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain‐transfer (RAFT) polymerizations using 2‐cyano‐2‐butyl dithiobenzoate (CBDB) as RAFT‐agent. Four different ratios of RAFT to initiator were screened for four acrylates and four methacrylates using automated parallel synthesizer robots. The reactions were monitored by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and gas chromatography (GC). The knowledge obtained during this screening was used for the designed synthesis of block and random copolymers containing a water‐ and a non water‐soluble monomer. The results obtained from GPC analysis together with 1H NMR spectroscopy demonstrate the possibility to design and prepare well‐defined block and random copolymers. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 3831–3839, 2005

Kinetic investigations on the cationic ring‐opening polymerization of 2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline were conducted using acetyl chloride, acetyl bromide, and acetyl iodide as initiators. Various polymerization temperatures ranging from 80 to 220 °C were applied under microwave irradiation. The resulting polymerization mixtures were characterized with GC and GPC for the determination of monomer conversion and molecular weight distribution, respectively. Well defined polymers with narrow molecular weight distributions ($\overline M _{{\rm n,GPC}}$ = 6 000 Dalton, PDI ≈ 1.10) were obtained with all three initiators.magnified image