Method for improving viscosity of thickeners for aqueous systems

A method for providing a reduced viscosity thickener system for a polymer-containing aqueous system, the method comprising:

• a) providing a cyclodextrin-containing compound selected from the group consisting of alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) cyclodextrin having a hydrophobic cavity of a predetermined size;
• b) providing a hydrophobically modified aminoplast-ether copolymer thickener comprising at least one terminal phobe of a size capable of complexing with said hydrophobic cavity of said cyclodextrin-containing compound, wherein the lower limit of the solids content of the copolymer is 15 wt %;
• and
• c) mixing said cyclodextrin-containing compound provided in step (a) and said hydrophobically modified aminoplast-ether copolymer thickener provided in step (b), such that at least a portion of said cyclodextrin-containing compound of step (a) is complexed with said hydrophobically modified aminoplast ether thickener of step (b) in such a way that at least a portion of at least one of said phobes at least partially fills said cavity.