Abstract: | A poly(ethylene oxide)‐block‐poly(dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate) block copolymer (PEO‐b‐PDMAEMA) bearing an amino moiety at the PEO chain end was synthesized by a one‐pot sequential oxyanionic polymerization of ethylene oxide (EO) and dimethylamino ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), followed by a coupling reaction between its PEO amino and a biotin derivative. The polymers were charac terized with 1H NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. Activated biotin, biotin‐NHS (N‐hydroxysuccinimide), was used to synthesize biotin‐PEO‐PDMAEMA. In aqueous media, the solubility of the copolymer was temperature‐ and pH‐sensitive. The particle size of the micelle formed from functionalized block copolymers was determined by dynamic light scattering. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3552–3558, 2006 |