Abstract The initiation of a novel macroinitiator is presented.The oligomers of α-methyl styrene (AMS) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) (designated as PAG) were used as macroinitiator in the bulk polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and styrene (St).The polymerization of MMA was carried out at 90℃ and that of St at 100℃

respectively.The resulting copolymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The results indicated that the copolymers can be prepared by simply heating PAG in the presence of the second monomer

without any other initiator.During the process of polymerization of MMA

the higher AMS content in PAG led to higher monomer conversion

which suggested that the polymerization reaction was initiated by PAG.Under the certain reaction time

copolymers can be obtained from the reaction system of St and PAG

but there had nothing in the system of pure St.Also

the copolymers gained by polymerization of MMA initiated with PAG have the reinitiating reactivity

and the curve of molecular weight with reaction time(Mn-t) has a well linear relation

as well as that of molecular weight with yield of copolymers (Mn-Y%).Based on the research results

the possible reaction mechanism has been put forward.This simple method is expected to be applied to some other monomers

and it might be suitable even for industrial applications.