Sulfated Oligohydroxycarboxylic Acid Esters, And Use Thereof

A process for preparing compounds of general formula (I):

• the process comprising:
• a) reacting at least one hydroxycarboxylic acid of the general formula (I.A):
• in an esterification reaction, where the esterification takes place in the presence of at least one alcohol R1—OH or the product of the esterification of the hydroxycarboxylic acid(s) (I.A) is then reacted with at least one alcohol R1—OH,
• wherein:
• R1 is hydrogen or a linear or branched aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms and 0, 1, 2 or 3 double bonds,
• the radicals R2, independently of one another, are selected from hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, —OA, —COOR4, —CH2—OA and —CH2—COOR4, where the radicals R4 are hydrogen or a linear or branched aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms and 0, 1, 2 or 3 double bonds,
• the radicals R3, independently of one another, are selected from hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, —OA, —COOR5, —CH2—OA and —CH2—COOR5, where the radicals R5 are hydrogen or a linear or branched aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms and 0, 1, 2 or 3 double bonds,
• A is H or —SO3B, in which B is hydrogen or a cation equivalent,
• n is on average a value of at least 0.1,
• m1 and m2, independently of one another, are 0 or 1,
• with the proviso that at least one of the radicals A is —SO3B and
• with the proviso that at least one of the radicals R1, R4 or R5 is a linear or branched aliphatic hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms and 0, 1, 2 or 3 double bonds,
• b) reacting the reaction product from step a) with a sulfating agent, and
• c) optionally, at least partially neutralizing the reaction product from step b) with a base.