Patent ID: 7569214

Claim:
A polymer having the following structure: wherein: POLY is a water-soluble polymer segment having a nominal average molecular weight of from about 2,000 daltons to about 25,000 daltons; (a) is either zero or one; X, when present, is a spacer moiety; (z) is an integer from 1 to 24; R 1 , in each occurrence, is in dependently H or an organic radical selected from the group consisting of alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkynyl, aryl, and substituted aryl; R 2 , in each occurrence, is independently H or an organic radical selected from the group consisting of alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkynyl, aryl, and substituted aryl; and each R 4 is a either (i) an organic radical independently selected from the group consisting of alkyl, substituted alkyl, alkenyl, substituted alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkynyl, aryl, and substituted aryl, or (ii) one or more atoms that combine with another R 4 or the remaining R 4 moieties to form a cyclic ortho ester structure.