The purpose of this study was to modify the surface characteristics of CB so as to prevent the aggregation of CB to provide the dispersibilities in either H2O or organic solvent. In this study, five kinds of hydrophilic TEMPO-terminated polymer, hydrophobic TEMPO-terminated polymer and amphiphilic TEMPO-terminated block copolymer were synthesized. The five kinds of TEMPO-terminated polymers were: (1) poly(4-acetoxystyrene) (PAS-T), (2) poly(4-hydroxystyrene) (PHS-T), (3) polystyrene (PS-T), (4) poly(4-acetoxystyrene)-block-polystyrene (PAS-b-PS-T), (5) poly (4-hydroxystyrene)-block-polystyrene (PHS-b-PS-T). These TEMPO-terminated polymers with desired molecular weights and specific structures were synthesized by using the method of living radical polymerization in the presence of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl- 1-oxy (TEMPO). These TEMPO-terminated polymers and TEMPO-terminated block copolymers were grafted onto the surface of CB through a reaction of polymer radicals trapped by CB, so as to obtain the TEMPO-terminated polymer/CB and TEMPO-terminated block copolymer/CB composite nanoparticles. Various variables such as reaction time, reaction temperature, amount of TEMPO-terminated polymer, molecular weight of TEMPO-terminated polymer and amount of CB all of which influenced the grafting efficiency were investigated. Besides, the stability of the composite nanoparticles, which dispersed in H2O or organic solvent, was investigated by laser light scattering. The amphiphilic composite nanoparticles, PHS-T/CB and PHS-b-PS-T/CB, which dispersed well in both H2O and organic solvent, were synthesized successfully in this work. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.