The invention relates to a superabsorbent copolymer comprising a reaction product of a reactive optical brightener comonomer. In another embodiment, the superabsorbent copolymer comprises a reaction product of a first monomer and a reactive optical brightener comonomer. The reactive optical brightener comonomer may be selected from various pyrene optical brighteners listed herein. The invention also relates to superabsorbent copolymer having from about 0.1 to 10,000 ppm of a reactive optical brightener comonomer based on the superabsorbent copolymer.