Water-soluble copolymers containing sulfo groups, method for the production and use thereof

A water-soluble, sulpho group-containing copolymer consisting essentially of at least one of

• a) from 3 to 96 mol % of formula (I)
• wherein
• R1 is hydrogen or methyl,
• R2, R3, R4 are independently selected from hydrogen, an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms, or a phenyl radical optionally substituted by methyl group;
• and
• M is hydrogen, a monovalent or divalent metal cation, an unsubstituted ammonium ion or an ammonium ion substituted by organic radicals;
• and
• a is ½ or 1;
• and
• b) from 3 to 96 mol % of formula (II)
• wherein
• R1 has the meaning given above,
• R5 and R6 are independently selected from hydrogen, an aliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms, a cycloaliphatic hydrocarbon radical containing 5 to 8 carbon atoms or an aryl carbon radical containing 6 to 14 carbon atoms,
• and
• c) from 0.01 to 10 mol % of the structural groups of formula (III)
• wherein
• Y is —COO(CnH2nO)p—R7, —(CH2)q—O(CnH2nO)p—R7;
• R7 is
• or an unsaturated or saturated, linear or branched aliphatic alkyl radical containing 10 to 40 carbon atoms,
• R8 is H, C1 to C6 alkyl, arylalkyl group containing a C1 to C12 alkyl and C6 to C14 aryl radical,
• n is from 2 to 4,
• p is from 0 to 200,
• q is from 0 to 20,
• x is from 0 to 3 and
• R1 has the meaning given above,
• or
• d) from 0.1 to 30 mol % of the structural groups of formula (IV)
• wherein
• Z is —(CH2)q—O(CnH2nO)p—R9,
• R9 is H or a C1 to C4 alkyl;
• and
• R1, n, p and q have the meaning given above.