This article describes the synthesis and characterization of a variety of new poly(2-oxazoline)s. With regard to functional polymers, 2-oxazolines represent an interesting class of monomers because of the easy variation of the substituent in 2-position. Starting from the corresponding nitriles, different 2-oxazolines were obtained containing a diverse set of 2-substituents, including thioether bonds (M11), trifluoromethyl groups (M8, M10), and alkyl- or aryl groups (M1-M7). The subsequent polymerization of the majority of these monomers proceeded in a living manner, which was demonstrated by linear first-order kinetics, a linear increase of molar mass with conversion, and relatively narrow molar mass distributions. In addition, selected thermal and surface properties of the polymers were studied utilizing DSC and contact-angle measurements to determine the effects of different 2-substituents on the macroscopic properties. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 3829-3838, 2009