Acrylonitrile-ammonium itaconate copolymers were prepared by H2O/dimethyl formamide suspension polymerization technique. Differential scanning calorimetry results of the degradation of acrylonitrile-ammonium itaconate copolymers in air are presented. The apparent activation energy of degradation of the copolymer was calculated using the Kissinger method. Effects of copolymerization conditions on the apparent activation energy of copolymer were studied. Increasing the dimethyl formamide concentration in the solvent mixture leads to a rapid increase in the degradation apparent activation energy of acrylonitrile-ammonium itaconate copolymer. The value of the degradation apparent activation energy of the copoly-mer synthesized in dimethyl formamide solvent increases up to 168.3 kJ mol(-1). The apparent activation energy decreases quickly along with an increase in ammonium itaconate concentration, and this change becomes less prominent as the weight ratio of ammonium itaconate/acrylonitrile goes beyond 6/94, Delta E-a = 89.4 +/- 2.0 kJ mol. The apparent activation energy shows a trend of increase with increasing copolymerization temperature. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.