| abstract |
In the production of a dried acrylamide polymer by polymerizing, in an aqueous medium, acrylamide alone or a monomer mixture comprising 50 mole % or more of acrylamide and at least one monomer copolymerizable therewith with a radical initiator, and then drying the resulting hydrous acrylamide polymer, the allowing of at least one of the following compounds [I], [II] and [III] to be present in the drying step or a step prior thereto enables the dried acrylamide polymer having a high molecular weight and a good dissolvability in water to be obtained: [I] a non-polymerizable compound having in its molecule at least one group represented by the formula, <IMAGE> wherein R1 is H or an alkyl group having up to 4 carbon atoms, [II] a compound represented by the formula, R2-S-CnH2nX wherein n is an integer of 1 to 8, R2 is an alkyl group, an aryl group or -CnH2nX, in which X is -OH, -COOH (or its salt), -CN or -CONH2, and [III] a compound represented by the formula, <IMAGE> wherein R3, R4 and R5 are H, alkali metals or alkyl or aryl groups. |