The chemical modification of polymers having amide moieties was carried out with p-toluenesulfonyl isocyanate. The resulting polymers revealed high hydrolytic character. For example, poly(acrylamide) was refluxed with an excess amount of p-toluenesulfonyl isocyanate in THF for 50 h to obtain a structurally modified polymer in 76% yield, whose sulfonylurea functionality was 100%. The resulting polymer was subjected to hydrolysis in a 1 M NaOH solution at 50 degrees C to convert 90% of the sulfonylurea in the side chain to the carboxylic acid moieties.