The effects of methacrylic acid (MAA) on the physical properties of polymer made by emulsion copolymerization of butyl acrylate (BA) and MAA were examined. Emulsion polymerizations were performed with and without MAA and at temperatures of 0.1 and 50 degrees C, using redox initiation so that the radical flux was essentially independent of temperature. The presence of methacrylic acid had only a small effect on gel fraction and on molecular weight, but a profound effect on the film properties-, changing the synthesis temperature was found to slightly alter the properties of the copolymer films. Latexes containing MAA formed much stronger films (front creep tests), and significantly increased tack and peel adhesion. This was attributed to intermolecular dipole-dipole interactions of the acid groups. Conductometric titration measurements revealed that the acid groups were predominantly located inside the latex particles, with only a small proportion in the aqueous phase and on the particle surface. Temperature was found not to affect significantly the partitioning of the acid groups in the latex. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.