The Preparation Of High-Viscosity, Partially Hydrolyzed Polymethacrylamides

Due to the high chain transfer to monomer, the homopolymerization of methacrylamide yields polymers of extremely low molecular weight. On partial alkaline hydrolysis, the viscosities of these polymers in aqueous solution are much inferior to those of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM). However, polymethacrylamides prepared by room temperature, persulfate-initiated polymerization in the presence of small amounts of N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide demonstrate posthydrolysis reduced viscosities in 0.01% NaCl comparable to typical commercial HPAM materials.