A new amphiphilic poly(vinyl alcohol)-b-poly(acrylonitrile) (PVOH-b-PAN) copolymer obtained by selective hydrolysis of well-defined poly(vinyl acetate)-b-poly(acrylonitrile) copolymer synthesized by cobalt mediated radical polymerization was used for the preparation of PVOH-b-PAN based micelles with embedded silver nanoparticles. The successful formation of silver loaded micelles has been confirmed by UV-vis, DLS and TEM analysis and their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and spore solution of Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) has been studied. PVOH-b-PAN based micelles with embedded silver nanoparticles showed a strong bactericidal effect against E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and the minimum bactericidal concentration for each system (MBC) has been determined. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.