Nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization: Limitations and versatility

Since its introduction in the early 1990s, nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMP) has been widely adopted for the preparation of a panoply of new polymer architectures. While NMP provides a number of advantages for the preparation of specific types of polymers, several inherent limitations with NMP have led to the more widespread use of other reversible-deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) methods, chiefly atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation-chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, in polymer synthesis. This short review discusses strategies that have been adopted for dealing with the difficulties of NMP and also surveys the use of NMP to prepare new polymers and copolymers over the past several years.