(GMA; 99.8%) was
donated by GEO Specialty Chemicals (Hythe, UK) and used without further
purification. 2-Hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) and 4,4′-azobis(4-cyanopentanoic
acid) (ACVA; V-501; 99%) were purchased from Alfa Aesar (Heysham,
UK). 2-Cyano-2-propyl dithiobenzoate (CPDB, 80% as judged by 1H NMR spectroscopy) was purchased from Strem Chemicals (Newton,
UK). CD3OD (99.8%) was purchased from Goss Scientific (Nantwich,
UK) and used as received. All solvents were of HPLC quality; they
were purchased from Fisher Scientific (Loughborough, UK) and used
as received.