Back to results
US 4,144,226 AGranted
Polymeric acetal carboxylates
AssigneeMonsanto Company
InventorsMarvin M. Crutchfield, Victor D. Papanu, Craig B. Warren
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Ether and acetal carboxylates useful as detergent builders to replace sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) in detergent formulations are known to the art. According to the present invention, new and novel polymeric acetal carboxylates are provided which are stable under laundry use conditions, but depolymerize in acid media, making the polymer fragments more readily biodegradable in waste streams.
Claims23
An acetal carboxylate polymer having the following general formula:
- ##STR17## wherein M is selected from the group consisting of alkali metal, ammonium, alkyl groups having 1 to 4 carbon atoms;
- tetralkyl ammonium groups and alkanol amine groups having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain;
- n averages at least 4;
- and R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are individually any chemically stable group which stabilize the polymer against rapid depolymerization in alkaline solution.
1 more element
A method which comprises
- (A) bringing together under polymerization conditions, an ester of glyoxylic acid and a polymerization initiator;
- (B) adding to the termini of the resulting polymer a chemically stable end group to stabilize the polymer against rapid depolymerization in alkaline solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.