Microemulsion process for producing acrylamide-alkyl acrylamide copolymers

Claim 1

A free radical microemulsion copolymerization process for the formation of a copolymer of acrylamide and a waterinsoluble alkyl acrylamide corresponding to the formula below which comprises the steps of: (a) forming a microemulsion concentrate which includes a surfactant, cosurfactant, and oil for hydrocarbon solvent; (b) dissolving the alkyl acrylamide into this concentrate; (c) adding the water or brine containing the water soluble monomer to said concentrate to form a clear homogeneous microemulsion reaction mixture having microemulsion droplets of about 100 to 1000 A; (d) deaerating the mixture by passage of an inert gas therethrough; (e) adding sufficient quantity of free radical initiator to initiate copolymerization of the water soluble monomer and the water insoluble monomer; and (f) continuing the copolymerization reaction for a sufficient time at a sufficient temperature to form said copolymer without phase separation occurring or the formation of substantial amounts of particulates, said copolymer having an intrinsic viscosity of about 1 to about 10 dl/g said copolymer having the formula: ##STR3## wherein R 1 is an alkyl or cycloalkyl group having about 6 to 22 carbon atoms, R 2 is the same or different alkyl group as R 1 , or hydrogen, x is about 90.0 to about 99.9 mole %, and y is about 10.0 to about 0.1 mole%.