“…Due to their pH-dependent ionization, carboxylic acid-functional comonomers such as acrylic acid (AA) or methacrylic acid (MAA) may (i) impart pH-responsiveness and negative charges to hydrophilic polymers, (ii) tune the transition temperature of lower critical solution temperature (LCST)- or upper critical solution temperature (UCST)-type polymers, (iii) impact the aggregation extent, and morphology of self-assembled amphiphilic block copolymers and (iv) render frozen block copolymer assemblies dynamic. − In addition, such copolymers can readily be derivatized, for example by reaction with amines, or decarboxylated to generate unsaturated, photocatalytically degradable polymer chains. , Moreover, AA can be obtained from lactic acid, a renewable feedstock . The radical copolymerization of AA with numerous monomers, such as methyl methacrylate (MMA), n -butyl acrylate (nBA), styrene, − acrylamide , (Am), acrylonitrile, or N -vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) has been extensively studied in organic solution and in bulk, but there are far fewer reports of its copolymerization with hydrophilic comonomers in aqueous solution. In water, the reactivity ratio of AA is pH-dependent, due to the pH-dependent deprotonation of AA (p K a ≈ 4.1) .…”