Process for formation of base

Abstract

A base precursor in the form of a salt of an organic base with a carboxylic acid is disclosed. The organic base is a diacidic to tetraacidic base which is composed of two to four guanidine moieties and at least one linking group for the guanidine moities. The organic base is such a hydrophilic compound that the number of carbon atoms contained in the organic base is not more than six times the number of the guanidine moieties. The linking group is a residue of a hydrocarbon or a heterocyclic ring. The guanidine moiety corresponds to an atomic group formed by removing one or two hydrogen atoms from a compound having the following formula (I): ##STR1## where each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 independently is hydrogen, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, a cycloalkyl group, an aralkyl group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group, each of which may have one or more substituent groups, and any two of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 may be combined together to form a five-membered or six-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring. A process for formation of an organic base from the base precursor and a light-sensitive material containing the base precursor are also disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.