To increase the moisture regain and thereby to reduce the static charge of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), blends of PAN with hydroxypropyl cellulose(HPC), a hydrophilic polymer, were prepared. Results indicated a significant increase in moisture regain and drastic drop in static charge to approximately 1/12 of PAN at 4% HPC. However, the tensile strength of blend decreased with HPC content due mainly to incompatible nature of the binary blends. Addtion of cyanoethylated HPC(CEC) or polyacrylonitrile-g-HPC(GHP) to the PAN/HPC binary system reduced the dispersed phase domain to appromaximately 1/10 of the binary blends and resulted in an increased tensile strength to a level close to PAN.