Kim et. al. presented a recipe for the surface-initiated polymerization of various monomers including SPMA using ARGET-ATRP (in a closed vial, without deoxygenation) , which is used as a starting point (Table ). Here, a catalyst concentration of 100 ppm is used, and the ligand is present in a 6x excess to the copper. The solvent is a 4:1 mixture of water and methanol. Kim et. al. report around 90 nm thick brushes after 4 h using this recipe. We reproduced this recipe (in a closed vial with 3.3 mL solution) with some small changes: CuCl 2 instead of CuBr 2 , and a 10x instead of a 6x excess of ligand. The former is expected to slightly improve control , and a substantial excess of ligand to copper is known to be beneficial in aqueous ARGET-ATRP, because in water the Cu(I)/ligand complex is liable to dissociate. An excess of ligand shifts the equilibrium towards the Cu(I)/ligand species . At 4 h polymerization, we obtain 140 nm thick brushes, and a fairly linear thickness-over-time relationship between 2 and 6 h.