Charge imbalanced polyelectrolyte composition

Abstract

A charge imbalanced polymer comprising: (a) about 10 to 90 mole % of polymeric units having the formulas ##STR1## where A is present in an amount of about 0.1-0.8 mole, and B is present in an amount of about 0.05-0.4 mole, and where A is 2-6 times B, where R=C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, n=1-6, R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are independently C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, R.sub.3 is H or lower alkyl, and R.sub.4 =C.sub.12 -C.sub.24 alkyl; and (b) about 10 to 90 mole % of a polymeric diacid units having the formula: ##STR2## where R is as defined above, and (c) about 0-20 mole % of by-product salts which are the dialkylaminoalkylamine and alkylamine salts of acid units of (a) and (b). The charged imbalanced polymer described above is made by: reacting 1 mole of an anhydride compound having the formula ##STR3## where R is as defined above, with less than 1 mole of a mixture of about 0.1-0.8 mole of a compound having the formula ##STR4## where n, R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 are as defined above, and about 0.05-0.4 of a compound having the formula ##STR5## where R.sub.4 is defined above, and where A is 2-6 times B, isolating the product, and hydrolyzing any residual anhydride compound in water to the corresponding diacid compound.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.