Novel hydrophobic monomer N-(1-pyrenebutyryl)-N'-methacryloyl hydrazide (PyMAHy) was synthesized and copolymerized with N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) to get a series of amphiphilic copolymers. FTIR, H-1 NMR, TEM, gel permeation chromatography-multi-angle laser light scattering, UV-vis spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to characterize these polymers. Results of fluorescence measurements show that these copolymers have good recognition ability to CO32- anion and the fluorescence emission intensity was quenched linearly upon the addition of CO32- anion. The recognition for CO(3)(2-)anion was also proved by the results of TEM for the significantly difference in the morphology of copolymer before and after adding CO32- anion into copolymer Tris-HCl buffer solution. Results suggest the potential of these amphiphilic copolymers as fluorogenic chemosensor materials. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.