Poly( N ‐hydroxyethylacrylamide) Prepared by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization as a Nonionic, Water‐Soluble, and Hydrolysis‐Resistant Polymer and/or Segment of Block Copolymer with a Well‐Defined Molecular Weight

N ‐Hydroxyethylacrylamide (HEAA) was polymerized using the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) with ethyl 2‐chloropropionate (ECP), copper(I) chloride (CuCl), and tris[2‐(dimethylamino)ethyl]amine (Me 6 TREN) in ethanol/water, producing poly( N ‐hydroxyethylacrylamide) (PHEAA) with well‐defined molecular weights. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that the obtained PHEAA broadly decomposed with a two‐stage weight loss. The first loss was due to the decomposition of the hydroxyethyl groups, which started at temperatures ranging from 249.2 to 277.1 °C. The remaining polyacrylamide backbones started to decompose at temperatures ranging from 352.5 to 383.4 °C. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that PHEAA had a glass transition temperature ( T g ) ranging from 70.6 to 117.8 °C. The ability of the obtained PHEAA as a prepolymer to initiate other acrylamide derivatives is described. N , N ‐Dimethylacrylamide (DMAA), N ‐acyloylmorpholine (NAM), and N ‐[3‐(dimethylamino)propyl]acrylamide (DMAPAA) were subsequently added to the solutions after the polymerization of HEAA with ECP/CuCl/Me 6 TREN, producing the corresponding block copolymers.