A new functional activated acrylate, 4-acetamidophenyl acrylate (APA) was synthesized and characterized by IR, 1 H- and 13 C-NMR and mass spectra. Homo and copolymers of APA with MMA and GMA were prepared by free radical polymerization. All the copolymer compositions have been determined by 1 H-NMR and the reactivity ratios of the monomer pairs have been evaluated. APA ( r 1): 1.099 and MMA ( r 2): 1.210 for copoly(APA–MMA) system. APA ( r 1): 0.648 and GMA ( r 2): 1.30 for copoly(APA–GMA) system. Thermal stability and molecular weights of the copolymers were reported.