This is the first report concerning the use of vinyl polyperoxide, namely, poly(methyl methacrylate) peroxide (PMMAP), as a thermal initiator for the synthesis of active polymer PMMAP-PS-PMMAP by free-radical polymerization with styrene. The polymerizations have been carried out at different concentrations of macroinitiator PMMAP. The active polymers have been characterized by H-1 NMR, DSC, thermogravimetric analysis, and gel permeation chromatography. PMMAP-PS-PMMAP is further used as the thermal macroinitiator for the preparation of another block copolymer, PMMA-b-PS-bPMMA, by reacting the active polymers with methyl methacrylate. The block copolymers have been synthesized by varying the concentrations of the active polymers. The mechanism of block copolymers has been discussed, which is also supported by thermochemical calculations. Studies on the surface texture and morphology of the block copolymer of polystyrene (PS) and PMMA material have been carried out using scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, in this article, a blend of the same constituent materials (PS and PMMA) in proportions (v/v) similar to that contained in block copolymers has been formulated, and the morphology and surface textures of these materials were also investigated. A comparative microscopical evaluation between two processing methods was done for a better understanding of the processing route dependence of the microstructures. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.