Heat-developable color photographic material with polymeric color coupler

A method for forming a color image, comprising the steps of:

• providing a heat-developable color photographic material comprising a support having thereon at least a light-sensitive silver halide, an organic silver salt oxidizing agent, a hydrophilic binder, a reducing agent for the silver halide and/or the organic silver salt oxidizing agent and a magenta color image forming polymer coupler latex which is capable of forming a diffusible dye upon coupling with an oxidized product of the reducing agent and which is a homopolymer or copolymer having a repeating unit derived from a monomer coupler represented by the following general formula (I):
• ##STR18## wherein R.sub.1 represents hydrogen, a lower alkyl group containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a chlorine atom;
• R.sub.2 and R.sub.3, which may be the same or different, each represents an unsubstituted or substituted alkylene group which may be a straight chain or a branched chain, an unsubstituted or substituted arylene group or an unsubstituted or substituted aralkylene group;
• X represents --CONH-- or --COO--;
• Y represents --O--, --S--, --SO--, --SO.sub.2 --, --CONH-- or --COO--;
• Ar represents an unsubstituted or substituted phenyl group;
• R.sub.4 represents an unsubstituted or substituted anilino group, an unsubstituted or substituted acylamino group or an unsubstituted or substituted ureido group;
• l represents 0 or 1;
• m represents 0 or 1;
• and n represents 0 or 1;
• imagewise exposing the heat-developable photographic material;
• and
• developing the exposed color photographic material by uniformly heating the material to form a diffusible dye and transferring the diffusible dye into an image receiving material.

A method for forming a color image, comprising the steps of:

• providing a heat-developable color photographic material comprising a support having thereon at least a light-sensitive silver halide, an organic silver salt oxidizing agent, a hydrophilic binder, a reducing agent for the silver halide and/or the organic silver salt oxidizing agent and a magenta color image forming polymer coupler latex which is capable of forming a diffusible dye upon coupling with an oxidized product of the reducing agent and which is a homopolymer or copolymer having a repeating unit derived from a monomer coupler represented by the following general formula (I):
• ##STR19## wherein R.sub.1 represents hydrogen, a lower alkyl group containing from 1 to 4 carbon atoms or a chlorine atom;
• R.sub.2 and R.sub.3, which may be the same or different, each represents an unsubstituted or substituted alkylene group which may be a straight chain or a branched chain, an unsubstituted or substituted arylene group or an unsubstituted or substituted aralkylene group;
• X represents --CONH-- or --COO--;
• Y represents --O--, --S--, --SO--, --SO.sub.2 --, --CONH-- or --COO--;
• Ar represents an unsubstituted or substituted phenyl group;
• R.sub.4 represents an unsubstituted or substituted anilino group, an unsubstituted or substituted acylamino group or an unsubstituted or substituted ureido group;
• l represents 0 or 1;
• m represents 0 or 1;
• and n represents 0 or 1;
• imagewise exposing the heat-developable color photographic material;
• and
• developing the exposed color photographic material by uniformly heating the material to form a diffusible dye, contacting an image receiving material with the layer containing the diffusible dye of the color photographic material, transferring the diffusible dye onto the image receiving material and peeling apart the image receiving layer from the color photographic material.