Graft copolymers of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were synthesized by radical copolymerization of acrylonitrile and methacrylate-headed poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer. The macromonomer was prepared by reaction of methacryloyl chloride with PEG. The effects of solution concentration, initiator concentration and acrylonitrile/macromonomer molar ratio on the conversion, molecular weight and PEO branch content in the graft copolymer were studied. The graft copolymers were characterized by GPC, FTIR, C-13-NMR and Kjeldhal method.