A novel amphiphilic A(3)B miktoarm star copolymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)(3)-poly(N-vinylcarbazole) ((PNIPAAM)(3) (PVK)) was successfully synthesized by a combination of single-electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. First, the well-defined three-armed poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAM)(3) was prepared via SET-LRP of N-isopropylacrylamide in acetone at 25 degrees C using a tetrafunctional bromoxanthate iniferter (Xanthate-Br-3) as the initiator and Cu(0)/PMDETA as a catalyst system. Secondly, the target amphiphilic A(3)B miktoarm star copolymer ((PNIPAAM)(3)(PVK)) was prepared via RAFT polymerization of N-vinylcarbazole (NVC) employing (PNIPAAM)(3) as the macro-RAFT agent. The architecture of the amphiphilic A(3)B miktoarm star copolymers were characterized by GPC, H-1-NMR spectra. Furthermore, the fluorescence intensity of micelle increased with the temperature and had a good temperature reversibility, which was investigated by dynamic light scattering (DLS), fluorescent and UV-vis spectra. (c) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 4268-4278, 2010