Polymers containing zwitterionic monomers

A process of polymerising monomers, comprising the step of radical polymerisation of:

• a) a hydroxyl-group containing monomer of the formula I
• in which R26 is hydrogen or a C1-4 alkyl group;
• A1 is —O— or —NR27— where R27 is hydrogen or a C1-4-alkyl group or a group B9R—(OH)n;
• B9 is a bond, a straight or branched alkylene, oxa alkylene or oligooxa alkylene group;
• R13 is a n+1 functional C2-6 alkylene group;
• and n is an integer of one or more;
• and
• b) a reactive monomer of the formula (II)
• in which R19 is hydrogen or a C1-4-alkyl group or;
• A2 is —O— or —NR21— where R21 is hydrogen or a C1-4-alkyl group;
• R12 is C1-24 straight or branched alkylene, oxaalkylene or oligo oxaalkylene group in which each alkylene group has 1 to 6 carbon atoms;
• A3 is a bond or —O—;
• and
• each R16 is independently selected from C1-6-alkyl groups;
• and
• c) a zwitterionic monomer of the formula (III)
• wherein B is a straight or branched alkylene, oxaalkylene or oligo-oxaalkylene chain optionally containing one or more fluorine atoms up to and including perfluorinated chains or, if X contains a carbon—carbon chain between B and the zwitterionic moiety a valence bond;
• X is a zwitterionic group
• R is hydrogen or a C1-C4 alkyl group;
• and
• A is —O— or —NR1— where R1 is hydrogen or a C1-C4 alkyl group or R1 is —B—X where B and X are as defined above.

A cross-linkable polymer formed from monomers including

• a) a hydroxyl-group containing monomer of the general formula I
• in which R26 is hydrogen or a C1-4-alkyl group;
• A1 is —O— or —NR27— where R27 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, a C1-4-alkyl group and a group B9R—(OH)n;
• B9 is selected from the group consisting of a bond, and a straight and branched alkylene, oxa alkylene and oligooxa alkylene group;
• R13 is a n+1 functional C1-24 alkylene group which may be substituted, and
• n is an integer of 1 or more;
• b) 2 to 10% by mole of a reactive monomer of the general formula (II)
• in which R19 is hydrogen or a C1-4-alkyl group;
• A2 is —O— or —NR21— where R21 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, and a C1-4-alkyl group;
• R12 is selected from the group consisting of a C1-24 straight and branched alkylene, oxaalkylene and oligo oxaalkylene group in which each alkylene group or moiety has 1 to 6 carbon atoms;
• A3 is a bond or —O—;
• and
• each R16 is independently an C1-6-alkyl group;
• c) a zwitterionic monomer of the general formula (III)
• wherein B is selected from the group consisting of a straight and branched alkylene, oxaalkylene and oligo-oxaalkylene group optionally containing one or more fluorine atoms up to and including perfluorinated chains and, if X contains a carbon—carbon chain between B and the zwitterionic moiety, a valence bond;
• X is a zwitterionic group
• R is hydrogen or a C1-C4 alkyl group;
• and
• A is —O— or —NR1— where R1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a C1-C4 alkyl group and —B—X where B and X are as defined above;
• and
• d) a comonomer of the formula V
• in which R14 is hydrogen or a C1-4-alkyl group
• A4 is —O— or —NR15— where R15 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, a C1-4-alkyl group and a group Q, and
• Q is an alkyl group (CR172)mCR173 wherein the groups CR172 are the same or different and in each group CR172 the groups R17 are the same or different, each group R17 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, fluorine and a C1-4-alkyl and -fluoroalkyl group and m is 5 to 23.