Ultra-Pure Methyl Vinyl Ether-Co-Maleic Anhydride Copolymers and Methods for Preparing Same

Abstract

Ultra-pure methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride (PMVE/MA) copolymers and the process to produce such ultra-pure polymers by removing trace impurities are provided. A process to provide an ultra-pure methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride material by solvent washing PMVE/MA copolymer with a solvent, comprises the steps of: (1) providing a solvent system in which impurities in the copolymer matrix are soluble and in which the PMVE/MA copolymer is not soluble, and wherein the solvent system does not react with the copolymer; (2) washing a dry powder or wet filter cake of PMVE/MA copolymer with the solvent system to efficiently and effectively extract trace impurities from the matrix; (3) filtering said copolymer from the solvent system; and (4) drying the subsequent wet filter cake of said copolymer to obtain an ultra-pure methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic anhydride copolymer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.