US 4,663,385 AGranted

Process for thickening with copolymers of alkyl poly (oxyalkylene) itaconic di-esters

AssigneeRohm and Haas Company

InventorsChing-Jen Chang, Travis E. Stevens

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Abstract

There is disclosed a process of thickening an aqueous system comprising adding to the system aqueous dispersions of water-insoluble emulsion copolymers of (1) about 10-70% by weight of (meth)acrylic acid or itaconic acid, (2) about 0.5-25% by weight of an alkyl poly(oxyethylene) itaconate, and (3) at least 25% by weight, to a total of 100%, of a C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl (meth)acrylate, and, optionally, included in the total monomer mixture a small amount of (4) about 0.05-1% by weight of a polyethylenically unsaturated monomer. The copolymers, when neutralized and solubilized by addition of an alkali, are high efficiency thickeners for aqueous systems and have improved tolerance to ionic or electrolyte content. Typical systems that can be thickened are paint latices, cosmetic preparations, food preparations, ionic detergents, dye pastes for textiles, pharmaceuticals, and oil well drilling muds. Surfactants enhance the thickening properties afforded by the copolymers.

A process of thickening an aqueous system, comprising adding to the system a water insoluble copolymer obtained by emulsion copolymerization of a monomer system comprising

(1) about 0.5 to 30 weight percent of at least one di-ester of itaconic acid of the formula ##STR12## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2, independently, are selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkylaryl and polycyclic alkyl groups having 1 to 30 carbon atoms;
m, m', n, n', independently are zero or a number having an average value of up to 60 or more, provided at least one of m and n is at least 2 and provided that the R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 group, when m or n, respectively, is at least 2, is one of said alkyl, alkylaryl and polycyclic alkyl groups having at least 8 carbon atoms;
R' is C.sub.1 -C.sub.2 alkyl;
and
the expressions [(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.m (CHR'CH.sub.2 O).sub.m' ]R.sup.1 and [(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.n (CHR'CH.sub.2 O).sub.n' ]R.sup.2 mean that the groups (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.m and (CHR'CH.sub.2 O).sub.m' and the groups (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.n and (CHR'CH.sub.2 O).sub.n', respectively, may be present in any random order or may be present in the exact order (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.m (CHR'CH.sub.2 O).sub.m' R.sup.1 or (CH.sub.2 CHO).sub.n (CHR'CH.sub.2 O).sub.n' R.sup.2 ;
(2) about 10 to 70 weight percent of a copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer or monomer mixture selected from the group consisting of methyacrylic acid, acrylic acid, itaconic acid, acryloxypropionic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, citraconic acid and crotonic acid;
(3) at least 25 weight of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of compounds of the formula
H.sub.2 C.dbd.CYZ
wherein
(a) Y is H and Z is COOR", C.sub.6 H.sub.4 R"', CN, Cl, OC(O)R"", CONH.sub.2 or CH.dbd.CH.sub.2 ;
(b) Y is C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl and Z is COOR", C.sub.6 H.sub.4 R"", CN, CONH.sub.2, or CH.dbd.CH.sub.2 ;
or
(c) Y and Z are Cl;
and
R" is C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl or C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 hydroxyalkyl or lower alkoxy(C.sub.2 -C.sub.8)alkyl;
R"' is H, Cl, Br or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl;
and
R"" is C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl;
and
(4) zero to 1.0 weight percent of a polyethylenically unsaturated mononer.

17 more elements

Abstract

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