The synthesis, characterization, and thermal properties of copolymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and N-(p-carboxyphenyl) methacrylamide/acrylamide (CPMA/CPA) are described. The copolymerization was carried out in solution by taking different mole fractions (0.1-0.5) of CPMA/CPA in the initial feed using azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator and dimethylformamide as a solvent at 60 degrees C. The copolymer composition was determined from H-1-NMR spectra by taking the ratio of the proton resonance signal due to the -OCH3 of MMA (delta = 3.59 ppm) and the aromatic protons (delta = 7.6-7.8 ppm) of CPMA/CPA. The monomer reactivity ratios of MMA:CPMA and MMA:CPA were determined using the Fineman Ross and Kelen Tudos methods and were found to be 1.32 +/- 0.01 [MMA], 1.11 +/- 0.02 [CPMA], 2.60 +/- 0.01 [MMA], and 0.20 +/- 0.01 [CPA]. Incorporation of these comonomers in the MMA. backbone resulted in an improvement in the glass-transition temperature and thermal stability. The percent char also increased with the increase of CPMA/CPA content in the copolymers.