Patent ID: 6962767

Claim:
A polymer having a weight average molecular weight of 1,000-500,000, comprising recurring units of the formulae (4-1) and (5-1): wherein: R is hydrogen or a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1-6 carbon atoms, W is a single bond or —(CH 2 ) m — wherein one hydrogen atom may be substituted with a hydroxyl or acetoxy group, R 1 is hydrogen, methyl or CH 2 CO 2 R 3 , R 2 is hydrogen, methyl or CO 2 R 3 , R 3 is a straight, branched or cyclic alkyl group of 1-15 carbon atoms, R 4 is an acid labile group, R 5 is a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a straight, branched or cyclic alkoxy, acyloxy, alkoxycarbonyloxy or alkylsulfonyloxy group of 1-15 carbon atoms, or a straight, branched or cyclic alkoxyalkoxy group of 2-15 carbon atoms, wherein some or all of the hydrogen atoms on constituent carbon atoms may be substituted with halogen atoms, Z is a single bond or a straight, branched or cyclic (h+2)-valent hydrocarbon group of 1-5 carbon atoms, wherein at least one methylene may be substituted with oxygen to form a chain-like or cyclic ether or two hydrogen atoms on a common carbon may be substituted with oxygen to form a ketone, and h is 0, 1 or 2, m is an integer from 1-8, k is 0 or 1, and n is 2 or 3.