This volume comprises the topical reviews and specialists' contributions presented at the American Chemical Society symposium on Controlled Radical Polymerization (the IUPAC preferred term is Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization and it is used in the titles of these volumes). This most recent meeting was a sequel to several previous ACS Symposia on controlled/living radical polymerization.

These two volumes are dedicated to mechanisms and techniques (volume 1 consisting of 18 chapters) and materials and applications (volume 2, which consists of 16 chapters). All chapters published in these two volumes show that reversible deactivation radical polymerization has made significant progress within the last two decades. New systems have been discovered, substantial progress has been achieved in understanding the mechanism and kinetics of reactions involved in all reversible
deactivation radical polymerization systems. Significant progress has also been made towards developing a comprehensive relationship between molecular structure and macroscopic properties. Several commercial applications of reversible deactivation radical polymerization have been announced and it is
anticipated that new products made by controlled/living radical polymerization will soon be on the market.