Water-soluble hydroxyalkyl polymer obtained by a method of inverse suspension or inverse emulsion polymerisation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10000597-B2
Application number	US-201515326603-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2015
Priority date	Aug 8, 2014
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

This invention relates to a water-soluble polymer in bead or powder form, characterized in that it has a Brookfield viscosity greater than 100 cps, and in that it is obtained by inverse suspension or inverse emulsion polymerization, in the presence of a transfer agent, of monomers where less than 20 mol % is made up of a hydroxyalkyl monomer with formula H 2 C═CR 1 R 2 , R 1 being a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R 2 being a hydrocarbon group containing at least one OH pendant group or at least one epoxide group and optionally at least one N or O heteroatom in the hydrocarbon chains; R 2 being different from the C(═O)—OH group.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A water-soluble polymer in bead or powder form, wherein said polymer has a Brookfield viscosity greater than 100 cps, and is obtained by inverse suspension or inverse emulsion polymerization, in the presence of a transfer agent, of monomers comprising a CH 2 ═C— function whereof less than 20 mol % is made up of at least one hydroalkyl monomer with formula H 2 C═CR 1 R 2 , the 100 mol % addition being made up of non-ionic and/or anionic and/or cationic monomers different from said hydroalkyl monomer,
R 1 being a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R 2 being a hydrocarbon group containing at least one OH pendant group or at least one epoxide group and optionally at least one N or O heteroatom in the hydrocarbon chain; R 2 being different from the C(═O)—OH group,
wherein:
the polymer contains more than 8 mol % and less than 17 mol % of hydroxyalkyl monomer when the R 2 hydrocarbon group contains between 1 and 3 carbon atoms; or
the polymer is obtained by inverse suspension polymerization and is in the form of a bead, the size of which is between 20 micrometers and 1000 micrometers; or
the polymer is obtained by inverse emulsion polymerization and is in the form of a powder and has a particle size between 0.01 micrometers and 5 micrometers.

2. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein said polymer has a Brookfield viscosity greater than 200 cps.

3. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the transfer agent is chosen from the group consisting of methanol, isopropanol, sodium hypophosphite, 2-mercaptoethanol, aminoethanethiol, cysteine, methallyl sulfonic acid, thioglycolic acid, thiolactic acid, glycolic acid, 3-mercaptopropionic acid, and the alkaline earth salts of these acids, and the mixtures of these compounds.

4. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer contains more than 8 mol % and less than 17 mol % of hydroxyalkyl monomer when the R 2 hydrocarbon group contains between 1 and 3 carbon atoms.

5. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer contains more than 0.2 mol % and less than 5 mol % of hydroxyalkyl monomer when the R 2 hydrocarbon group contains more than 3 carbon atoms.

6. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the hydroxyalkyl monomer comprising at least one OH pendant group is chosen from the group consisting of hydroxyalkyl acrylate; hydroxyalkyl methacrylate; hydroxyalkyl acrylamide; hydroxyalkyl methacrylamide; methacrylamido propyldimethyl-2,3-dihydroxypropyl ammonium sulfate; 2,3-dihydroxypropyl methacrylate; amino alcohol acrylate; and amino alcohol methacrylate; alkyl designating a linear alkyl group comprising 1 to 6 carbon atoms;
and wherein the hydroalkyl monomer comprising at least one epoxide group is chosen from the group consisting of glycidyl acrylate; glycidyl methacrylate; and glycidyl allyl ether.

7. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer comprises an anionic monomer chosen from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, maleic acid and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (ATBS), said monomers being in acid form, partially salified or totally salified.

8. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer is obtained by inverse suspension polymerization and is in the form of a bead, the size of which is between 20 micrometers and 1000 micrometers.

9. The polymer according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer is obtained by inverse emulsion polymerization and is in the form of a powder and has a particle size between 0.01 micrometers and 5 micrometers.

10. A method for preparing a water-soluble polymer in bead or powder form,
wherein said polymer has a Brookfield viscosity greater than 100 cps, and is obtained by inverse suspension or inverse emulsion polymerization, in the presence of a transfer agent, of monomers comprising a CH 2 ═C— function whereof less than 20 mol % is made up of at least one hydroalkyl monomer with formula H 2 C═CR 1 R 2 , the 100 mol % addition being made up of non-ionic and/or anionic and/or cationic monomers different from said hydroalkyl monomer, R 1 being a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R 2 being a hydrocarbon group containing at least one OH pendant group or at least one epoxide group and optionally at least one N or O heteroatom in the hydrocarbon chain; R 2 being different from the C(═O)—OH group,
said method comprising the following successive steps:
a) preparing an inverse suspension by mixing an aqueous phase comprising at least monomers and a transfer agent and a non-aqueous phase comprising at least one non-aqueous solvent and at least one surfactant;
 the monomers comprising a CH 2 ═C— function whereof less than 20 mol% is made up of at least one hydroalkyl monomer with formula H 2 C═CR 1 R 2 , the 100 mol % addition being made up of non-ionic and/or anionic and/or cationic monomers different from said hydroalkyl monomer,
 R 1 being a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R 2 being a hydrocarbon group containing at least one OH pendant group or at least one epoxide group and optionally at least one N or O heteroatom in the hydrocarbon chain; R 2 being different from the C(═O)—OH group;
b) inverse suspension polymerization of the monomers in the presence of a free radical initiator; and
c) extracting water and solvent from the suspension in order to obtain, in bead form, the water-soluble hydroxyalkyl polymer with a Brookfield viscosity greater than 100 cps.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step for extracting water and solvent comprises a step for eliminating water and solvent by azeotropic distillation, and a solid/liquid separating step.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the step for extracting water and solvent comprises a step for eliminating water and solvent by azeotropic distillation done at a pressure between 20 and 500 mbars.

13. A method for preparing a water-soluble polymer in bead or powder form,
wherein said polymer has a Brookfield viscosity greater than 100 cps, and is obtained by inverse suspension or inverse emulsion polymerization, in the presence of a transfer agent, of monomers comprising a CH 2 ═C— function whereof less than 20 mol % is made up of at least one hydroalkyl monomer with formula H 2 C═CR 1 R 2 , the 100 mol % addition being made up of non-ionic and/or anionic and/or cationic monomers different from said hydroalkyl monomer, R 1 being a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R 2 being a hydrocarbon group containing at least one OH pendant group or at least one epoxide group and optionally at least one N or O heteroatom in the hydrocarbon chain; R 2 being different from the C(═O)—OH group,
said method comprising the following successive steps:
a) preparing an inverse emulsion by mixing an aqueous phase comprising at least monomers and a transfer agent and a non-aqueous phase comprising at least one non-aqueous solvent and at least one emulsifying agent;
 the monomers comprising a CH 2 ═C— function whereof less than 20 mol % is made up of at least one hydroalkyl monomer with formula H 2 C═CR 1 R 2 , the 100 mol % addition being made up of non-ionic and/or anionic and/or cationic monomers different from said hydroalkyl monomer,
 R 1 being a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and R 2 being a hydrocarbon group containing at least one OH pendant group or at least one epoxide group and optionally at least one N or O heteroatom in the hydrocarbon chain; R 2 being different from the C(═O)—OH group;
b) inverse emulsion polymerization of the monomers in the presence of a free radical initiator;
c) extracting water and solvent from the emulsion in order to obtain, in powder form, the water-soluble hydro

Assignees

• Spcm Sa

Inventors

• Cheucle Pierrick

Classifications

• D21H19/10

  Coatings without pigments (D21H19/66 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C08F220/06 Primary

  Acrylic acid; Methacrylic acid; Metal salts or ammonium salts thereof · CPC title

• C08F2/38

  Polymerisation using regulators, e.g. chain terminating agents {, e.g. telomerisation} · CPC title

• C08F220/20

  of polyhydric alcohols or phenols {, e.g. 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate or glycerol mono-(meth)acrylate} · CPC title

• C08F2/32 Primary

  Polymerisation in water-in-oil emulsions · CPC title