To avoid the damage to catalytic system in ATRP by the carboxyl groups in vinyl benzoic acid

a welldefined poly(p-vinyl benzoic acid) was synthesized via ATRP in the tertiary butyl ester form．The ATRP of t-butylp-vinyl benzoate (t-BVB) was studied kinetically．The results showed that t-BVB can be polymerized in a controlled way by ATRP．It was found that the polymerization late of t-BVB is much faster than that of St

meaning that the electron-withdrawing ester group affects the polymerization obviously．Well-defined diblock copolymers of St and t-BVB were prepared by using bromo-terminated PBVBs as macroinitiators via ATRP．After removal of the t-butyl group by hydrolysis

well-defined amphiphilic diblock copolymers of styrene and p-vinyl benzoic acid(PSt-b-PBVA) were obtained．