2-Hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA, 97%)
and 4,4′-azobis(4-cyanopentanoic acid) (ACVA; V-501; 99%) were
purchased from Alfa Aesar (Heysham, U.K.) and used as received. Glycerol
monomethacrylate (GMA, 99.8%) was kindly donated by GEO Specialty
Chemicals (Hythe, U.K.) and used without further purification. 3-Methylidene-1,9-dioxa-5,12,13-trithiacyclopentadecane-2,8-dione
(MTC) was synthesized as described elsewhere.80 (link) 2-Cyano-2-propyl benzodithioate (CPDB) was purchased from Strem
Chemicals (Cambridge, U.K.) and tris(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP
hydrochloride, 99%) was purchased from Amresco (Solon, Ohio, U.S.A.).
Deuterated methanol (CD3OD) was purchased from Goss Scientific
(Nantwich, U.K.). Sodium hydroxide pellets were purchased from VWR
(Lutterworth, U.K.). Deionized water was used for all dispersion polymerizations.
All other solvents were of HPLC quality, purchased from Fisher Scientific
(Loughborough, U.K.) and used as received.