In this investigation, hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide with low amounts of anionic long-chain alkyl was synthesized by the free radical polymerization in deionized water. This water-soluble copolymerization method is more convenient compared with the traditional micellar copolymerization methods. The copolymers were characterized using Fourier transform infrared, H-1 NMR, and the molecular weight and polydispersity were determined using gel permeation chromatography. The solution behavior of the copolymers was studied as a function of composition, pH, and added electrolytes. As NaCl was added to solutions of AM/C(11)AM copolymers or pH was lowered, the shielding or elimination of electrostatic repulsions between carboxylate groups of the C(11)AM unit lead to coil shrinkage. The steady shear viscosity and dynamic shear viscoelastic properties in semidilute, salt-free aqueous solutions were conducted to examine the concentration effects on copolymers. In addition, the shear superimposed oscillation technique was used to probe the structural changes of the network under various stresses or shear conditions. We prepared hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide with N-alkyl groups in the aqueous medium. The advantage of this method is that the production is pure without surfactants. These results suggest that the unique aqueous solution behavior of the copolymers is different from conventional hydropbobically associating acrylamide. (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 2465-2474, 2008