Patent ID: 8530597

Claim:
A water-soluble structured polymer having a weight-average molecular weight of from about 100,000 to about 5,000,000; an apparent conformation coefficient of less than or equal to about 0.40 in sodium nitrate solution having a pH of about 3; and a greater than or equal to about 80% solubility as determined by SEC/MALLS which comprises the polymerization reaction product of: a. acrylamide; and b. one of dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide and dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide, wherein the aqueous polymerization reaction employs a redox reaction between the amine groups of monomers a) and b) and an oxidizing initiator and wherein the polymerization reaction is conducted at a pH greater than or equal to 6 and a temperature below about 60° C. in the absence of a crosslinking agent and wherein the polymer was produced in the absence of a cross-linking agent.