The reactions of vinylpyridine polymers with alpha,beta-unsaturated carboxylic acids such as acrylic, methacrylic, crotonic, itaconic, cinnamic, fumaric, and maleic acids were studied. It was found that, when reacted with acrylic, itaconic and fumaric acids, poly(4-vinylpyridine) gave macromolecular betaine products while with maleic acid, betaine as well as the corresponding salt was obtained. Poly(2-vinylpyridine) reacted with the same acids as poly(4-vinylpyridine) gave only the salts. No significant changes were observed with the two polymers when reacted with methacrylic, crotonic, and cinnamic acids. To attempt to rationalize these observations with the two macromolecular tertiary amines, the reactions of 4-methyl and 2-methylpyridines with the same carboxylic acids were investigated. The H-1-NMR methodology was generally applied to elucidate the chemical structure obtained.