Zwitterionic polyamines and process for their production

A process for the production of a zwitterionic polyamine, comprising:

• (A) reacting the following (i) with the following (ii):
• (i) a linear or branched hydrophobic polyamine having 2 to 10 primary or secondary amino nitrogen atoms and one spacer between two nitrogen atoms, wherein the spacer is selected from the group consisting of C8- to C15-alkylene, C5- to C15-cycloalkylene,
• wherein in formulae I, II and III
• B is C2-C16-alkylene or C5-C15-cycloalkylene,
• D is C4-C16-alkylene or C5-C15-cycloalkylene,
• o is 1 or 2,
• p is 3 to 8,
• wherein in formula IV
• R is C1- to C22-alkyl or C7-C22-aralkyl,
• and n is an integer of from 3 to 6, and
• (ii) at least one C2- to C4-alkylene oxide or tetrahydrofuran;
• to obtain an alkoxylated polyamine;
• wherein (i) and (ii) are reacted at such a ratio that for each NH group of said polyamine 1 to 50 units of the alkylene oxide are added,
• (B) reacting said alkoxylated polyamine with a compound selected from the group consisting of a halogen sulfonic acid, halogen phosphorous acid, vinyl sulfonic acid, propane sultone, halogen acetic acid, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, vinyl phosphorous acid, an alkali metal of a halogen sulfonic acid, an alkali metal of a halogen phosphorous acid, an alkali metal of a vinyl sulfonic acid, an alkali metal of propane sultone, an alkali metal of a halogen acetic acid, an alkali metal of acrylic acid, an alkali metal of methacrylic acid, an alkali metal of a vinyl phosphorous acid, an ammonium salt of a halogen sulfonic acid, an ammonium salt of a halogen phosphorous acid, an ammonium salt of a vinyl sulfonic acid, an ammonium salt of propane sultone, an ammonium salt of a halogen acetic acid, an ammonium salt of acrylic acid, an ammonium salt of methacrylic acid, an ammonium salt of a vinyl phosphorous acid, in such a manner that at least one tertiary amine end group of said alkoxylated polyamine contains two groups having the formulae
• wherein
• A is an ethylene oxide unit, a propylene oxide unit, a unit of butylene oxides or a tetrahydrofuran unit,
• n is a number of from 1 to 50,
• X is —SO3M, —CH2—CH2—SO3M, —CH2—CH2—CH2—SO3M,
• —CH2—COOM, —CH2—CH2—COOM,
• —PO3M2 or —CH2—CH2—PO3M2, with the proviso that in formula VI one X may also be hydrogen, and
• M is hydrogen, alkali metal or ammonium,
• or at least one tertiary amine end group of the alkoxylated polyamine contains a) one group of formulae V or VI and b) one group selected from the group consisting of
• wherein A and n are the same as in formulae V or VI, to obtain a reaction product having tertiary nitrogen atoms, and,
• (C) optionally, quarternizing up to 100% of the tertiary nitrogen atoms of the reaction product;
• or
• (D) quaternizing said alkoxylated polyamine from step (A) and subsequently carrying out step (B).