Three N-alkoxyamines were synthesized for use in nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization. Upon thermolysis, they generate new acyclic a-hydrogen nitroxides: one adamantyl substituted and two diol-containing nitroxides. The initiators were tested in polymerization reactions in direct comparison with the initiator derived from the nitroxide TIPNO.Nitroxide-mediated 'living' free radical polymerization (NMRP) has become a very attractive method for the controlled polymerization of olefins, as monomers bearing a wide variety of functionality can be tolerated under the polymerization conditions. The resulting polymers generally display good control over both molecular weight and polydispersity, and the 'living' nitroxide endcap allows for the preparation of nanoscopic materials with highly designed architecture. 1 Other 'living' radical techniques such as Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) mediated by a metal complex, 2 and Reversible Addition Fragmentation Transfer (RAFT) mediated by a thiocarbonyl intermediate 3 have also been developed. ATRP has the advantage that it can be run at lower temperatures, and it functions well with methacrylates, but amine containing monomers sometimes coordinate to the metal catalyst, interfering with the polymerization process. Polymers made by ATRP contain traces of metal, derived from the metal catalyst. RAFT polymerization is effective with a wider range of monomers, including electron rich vinyl acetates, which are not good substrates for NMRP and ATRP. However sulfur-containing impurities may lead to undesirable colored polymers prepared by the RAFT process.Thus all three methods constitute valuable options in the methodologies available for producing designed polymers using free radical intermediates, yet there is room for improvement. With NMRP, an important achievement would be developing a system that would allow polymerizations to be carried out at temperatures lower than the 105-125 °C that are typically employed. The ability to polymerize electron rich olefins in a controlled manner would further extend the versatility of NMRP. For all of these goals, the characteristics of the nitroxide end-cap are key to improving the polymerization profile. Previously, we 4 and the group of Tordo 5 have introduced a-hydrogen nitroxides TIPNO 1 and SG-1 2, which are effective in the polymerization of styrenes and a variety of electron poor olefin monomers. Very recently a number of cyclic 6 and acyclic 7 new nitroxides have been introduced for improved efficacy in NMRP. Herein we present work on initiators based on several new acyclic a-hydrogen nitroxides for NMRP, in which the N-tert-butyl has been modified.