Use of vinylpyrrolidone and vinylimidazole copolymers as detergent additives, novel polymers of vinylpyrrolidone and of vinylimidazole, and preparation thereof

Abstract

There are described the use of copolymers obtainable by free-radically initiated copolymerization of monomer mixtures comprising (a) 60-99% by weight of 1-vinylpyrrolidone, 1-vinyl-imidazole or mixtures thereof, (b) 1-40% by weight of nitrogen-containing, basic ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the form of the free bases, in the form of salts or in quaternized form, and optionally (c) up to 20% by weight of other monoethylenically unsaturated monomers, as detergent additives for inhibiting dye transfer during the wash, detergents which contain such polymers, and polymers which are obtainable by free-radically initiated polymerization of (a) 1-vinylpyrrolidone, 1-vinylimidazole, 1-vinylimidazolium compounds, or mixtures thereof, and optionally (b) other nitrogen-containing, basic ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the form of the free bases, in the form of the salts or in quaternized form, and/or (c) other monoethylenically unsaturated monomers, in an aqueous medium in the presence of water-soluble proteins and a process for the preparation of the polymers by polymerising the monomers (a) and optionally (b) and/or (c) in an aqueous medium in the presence of water-soluble proteins using from 0.5 to 400 parts by weight of protein per 100 parts by weight of monomer used in the polymerization.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.