In the present study, it has been demonstrated that polystyrene-g-polycaprolactone (PS-g-PCL) was successfully prepared by click chemistry. For this purpose, first, poly(styrene-co-4-chloromethylstyrene) (P(S-co-CMS)) with 4-chloromethylstyrene content (10%) was synthesized. Second, alkyne-functionalized polycaprolactone (PCL) was obtained using propargyl alcohol and caprolactone. P(S-co-CMS) and PCL were reacted in N,N-dimethylformamide for 24 h at 25 degrees C to give PS-g-PCL. The synthesized polymer was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), gel permeation chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The apparent activation energies for thermal degradation of PS-g-PCL were obtained by differential (Kissenger) and integral methods (FlynnWallOzawa, KissingerAkahiraSunose, Tang, CoatsRedfern, Van Krevelen et al.). The decomposition mechanism and pre-exponential factor were calculated in terms of CoatsRedfern method. The most likely decomposition processes of first and second degradation stages were An type and F3 type, respectively. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012