Poly(acrylic acid)-g-poly(alkyl methacrylate) amphiphilic graft copolymers with narrow molecular weight distributions were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and grafting-from main-chain technique. The well-defined products were characterized by FT-IR, ¹H NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The molecular weight of a main chain could be tuned by the variation of the feed ratios, while the tuning of the molecular weights of side chains could be conducted by controlling the reaction time. This is a significant progress for the synthesis of amphiphilic graft copolymers because the side chains can be extended to other polymer blocks. Moreover, the study of self-assembly behavior can benefit formation of the well-defined structures of the products.

Key words: atom transfer radical polymerization, amphiphilic, graft copolymer, macroinitiator