Well defined graft copolymers are prepared by "grafting from" atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) at room temperature (30 degrees C). The experiments were aimed at grafting methaerylates and styrene at latent initiating sites of polystyrene. For this purpose, the benzylic hydrogen in polystyrene was subjected to allylic bromination with N-bromosuccinimide and azobisisobutrylnitirle to generate tertiary bromide ATRP initiating sites (Br-C-PS). The use of Br-C-PS with lesser mol % of bromide initiating groups results in better control and successful graft copolymerization. This was used to synthesize a series of new graft copolymers such as PS-gPBnMA, PS-g-PBMA, PS-g-GMA, and PS-g-(PMMA-b-PtBA) catalyzed by CuBr/ PMDETA system, in bulk, at room temperature. The polymers are characterized by GPC, NMR, FTIR, TEM, and TGA. Graft copolymerization followed by block polymerization enabled the synthesis of highly branched polymer brush, in which the grafting density can be adjusted by appropriate choice of bromide concentration in the polystyrene. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.