N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP)-assisted free radical functionalization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene (SEBS) was investigated to attempt to overcome the low grafting reactivity of GMA and the low efficiency of the styrene (St)-assisted functionalization method. By using the optimal amount of NVP, the degree of GMA grafting was increased by at least 7.5 and 2.5-fold when compared to GMA alone and the St-assisted grafting procedure, respectively. Also, no apparent cross-linking or degradation reactions of SEBS were observed. It was proposed that NVP reacted first with SEBS macroradicals, and then the resulting NVP-macroradicals copolymerized with GMA to produce high degrees of grafting of both GMA and NVP onto SEBS. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.