Phenol-formaldehyde condensation products and processes of producing same

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF WATER SOLUBLE CONDENSATION PRODUCTS COMPRISING REACTING BY HEATING AT A TEMPERATURE OF ABOUT 80* C. TO THE REFLUX TEMPERATURE FOR ABOUT 1/2-1 HOUR, 1 MOL OF A PHENOLIC COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF PHENOL AND ALKYL SUBSTITUTED PHENOLS, SAID PHENOLIC COMPOUND BEING MONOCYCLIC, CONTAINING ONE NUCLEAR HYDROXYL GROUP AND HAVING AT LEAST THREE REPLACEABLE HYDROGEN ATOMS JOINED TO THREE NUCLEAR CARBON ATOMS, WITH LESS THAN 1 MOL OF FORMALDEHYDE BUT NOT SUBSTANTIALLY LESS THAN 0.5 MOL OF FORMALDEHYDE IN AN AQUEOUS MEDIUM IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ACIDIC CATALYST, THEN COOLING TO ABOUT 40-50* C. AND THEN ADDING FORMALDEHYDE SO THAT FOR EACH MOL OF THE PHENOLIC COMPOUND THERE IS MORE THAN 1 MOL AND SUBSTANTIALLY NOT MORE THAN 3 MOLS OF FORMALDEHYDE AND CONTINUING THE REACTION BY HEATING AT ABOUT 80* C. IN THE PRESENCE OF A BASIC CATALYST UNTIL A VISCOSITY OF ABOUT 400 TO 1100 CENTIPOISES AT 25* C. IS REACHED.