The homogeneous atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene using solubilizing 4, 4'-dialkyl substituted 2, 2'-bipyridines yielded well-defined polymers with M w/M n≤ 1.10. The polymerizations exhibited an increase in molecular weight in direct proportion to the ratio of the monomer consumed to the initial initiator concentration and also exhibited internal first-order kinetics with respect to monomer concentration. The optimum ratio of ...