Waterborne basecoat with copolymer dispersant composition for inorganic pigments

A basecoat composition comprising a water-dispersible film forming resin, crosslinking agent and a pigment dispersion comprising inorganic pigment and a pigment dispersant comprising a copolymer which is the reaction product of

• (a) monomers selected from the group consisting of
• (i) an ethylenically unsaturated monomer having a reactive functionality which is selected from the group consisting of isocyanates, anhydrides, and epoxy functionalities,
• (ii) at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer having no reactive functionality to react with the reactive functionality of monomer (i),
• (b) a polyalkylene glycol compound selected from the group consisting of polyalkylene glycol monoalkyl ethers and mixtures thereof, and
• (c) a compound having polar functionality selected from the group consisting of silane-containing compounds having hydroxyl, amino, mercapto, isocyanato or oxirane functional groups;
• phosphorus containing compounds having hydroxyl, amino, or mercapto functionalities;
• and urea-containing compounds having the formula ##STR3## wherein each R is monomeric in nature and is independently selected from the group consisting of H, saturated and unsaturated aliphatic and alicyclic compounds that may be substituted or unsubstituted, substituted and unsubstituted aromatic compounds, and divalent radicals, where one R group has a functional group selected from the group consisting of monovalent alkyl radicals substituted with hydroxy or amino substituents, ethylenically unsaturated groups substituted with functionalities selected from the group consisting of amino, amide, carbonyl, carboxyl, epoxy, hydroxy, ether, ketone, aldehyde and ester functionalities, and mixtures thereof, and the reaction product of (a)-(c) is reacted with a metal salt selected from the group consisting of transition metal and rare earth metal salts present in an amount between 0.01% and 3.0% by weight, based on total weight of the pigment dispersant and, to enhance pigment concentration in the dispersion.