The forward osmosis (FO) desalination consisting of polyelectrolyte-based draw solution (DS) is gaining more interest due to low reverse solute flux (RSF) and easy DS recovery. In the current work, a novel solute for the DS was prepared by the base hydrolysis of poly(isobutylene-alt-maleic anhydride) (IBMA) using NaOH. The hydrolyzed product, i.e., sodium salt of IBMA (IBMA-Na), was dissolved in deionized (DI) water at various concentrations to obtain the DS. The FO experiments were conducted using commercially available cellulose triacetate (CIA) flat sheet membrane. The cytotoxicity study by the MTI assay method proved nontoxic nature of IBMA-Na and thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis of IBMA-Na showed two glass transition temperature (T-g) values well above the operation temperatures of FO-MD hybrid process. High osmotic pressure (Pi) values with low viscosity were obtained for IBMA-Na with a concentration up to 0.375 g/mL, and Pi values increased drastically thereafter. The DS consisting of 0.375 g/mL of IBMA-Na showed the flux of 34 L/m(2) h at active layer facing DS (AL-DS) mode with a RSF of 0.196 gMH at 60 degrees C. The recycling of the DS was easily achieved using the membrane distillation process and revealed its potential application in the FO-MD hybrid desalination process. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.