This manuscript is dedicated to Professor Mitsuo Sawamoto's outstanding achievements in polymer chemistry and recognizes his recent retirement from 40 years of exceptional service to Kyoto University.ABSTRACT: This article provides a critical review of the properties, synthesis, and applications of dithiocarbamates Z 0 Z 00 NC(=S)SR as mediators in reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. These are among the most versatile RAFT agents. Through choice of substituents on nitrogen (Z 0 , Z 00 ), the polymerization of most monomer types can be controlled to provide living characteristics (i.e., low dispersities, high end-group fidelity, and access to complex architectures). These include the more activated monomers (MAMs; e.g., styrenes and acrylates) and the less activated monomers (LAMs; e.g., vinyl esters and vinylamides). Dithiocarbamates with balanced activity (e.g., 1H-pyrazole-1-carbodithioates) or switchable RAFT agents [e.g., a N-methyl-N-(4-pyridinyl)dithiocarbamate] allow control MAMs and LAMs with a single RAFT agent and provide a pathway to lowdispersity poly(MAM)-block-poly(LAM).A few dithiocarbamates, for example, those with Z 0 Z 00 NC(=S)S-"near the center of Figure 1(a), show some capacity for controlling the polymerization of both MAMs and LAMs. However, the activity of these intermediate activity RAFT agents with respect to one or both monomer classes is usually compromised 13,[15][16][17][18] to the extent that, while achieving reasonable control over molar mass for both MAMs and LAMs, they provide higher Ð (e.g., >1.3) with 1,1-disubstituted MAMs and some retardation with LAMs (e.g., vinyl acetate) and intermediate activated monomers (IAMs; e.g., ).It has also been demonstrated that it is possible to switch the activity of certain dithiocarbamates [e.g., the N-(4-pyrdinyl) dithiocarbamates, most often with a protonation/deprotonation switch-refer Fig. 1], to provide good control over both These switchable RAFT agents allow the synthesis of poly(MAM)s, for example, low Ð poly(alkyl methacrylates), when in their switched, protonated, state, and Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article.