Poly(acrylamide) (PAM) was efficiently synthesized under microwave (MW) irradiation using catalytic amount of potassium persulfate. The synthesis does not require any inert atmosphere and could be accomplished in very short time. Microwave power, exposure time, concentration of persulfate, and concentration of the acrylamide were varied to optimize the polymerization in terms of the % conversion (%C). The maximum %C that could be achieved was in 98.5%. The average molecular weight of the synthesized PAM samples ranged from 4.11 x 10(4) to 1.30 x 10(5), depending upon the MW power used for their synthesis. The representative PAM was characterized by Fourier transform-infrared, SEM, and X-ray diffraction studies. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.