Water soluble crosslinked copolymers, their preparation and their use

Abstract

Water-soluble copolymers which are obtainable by free-radical solution polymerization of a) 10-99.5% by weight of at least one vinylimidazole of the formula ##STR1## where R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are identical or different and are H, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 -alkyl, monomers of the formula ##STR2## where R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 are identical or different and are H, C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 -alkyl or together form a ring of 3 to 5 methylene groups, N-vinyloxazolidone, N-vinyltriazole, 4-vinylpyridine N-oxide or mixtures of said monomers, b) 0-89.5% by weight of other copolymerizable monoethylenically unsaturated monomers and c) 0.5-30% by weight of at least one monomer which acts as crosslinker and has at least two non-conjugated ethylenic double bonds in water and/or polar organic solvents in the presence of polymerization regulators, using from 0.1 to 5 parts by weight of polymerization regulator per 1 part by weight of crosslinker, a process for preparing the copolymers by free-radical solution polymerization of the monomers in the presence of polymerization regulators and the use of the copolymers as additive to detergents.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.