Preparation of water-soluble arylmethylene sulfonium polymers

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF WATER-SOLUBLE AND UNIFORMLY WATER-DISPERSIBLE ARYLMETHYLENE SULFONIUM POLYMERS WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF: (A) PREPARING A FIRST SOLUTION CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 5 TO 60 WEIGHT PERCENT OF A CHLOROMETHYLATED ARYLVINYL POLYMER IN AN ORGANIC TRANSFER-SOLVENT, SAID POLYMER HAVING (1) AN AVERAGE OF FROM ABOUT 0.4 TO 1.0 CHLOROMETHYL GROUPS PER ARYL NUCLEUS, AND (2) AN AVERAGE MOLECULAR WEIGHT OF FROM ABOUT 5,000 TO 200,000 SAID ORGANIC TRANSFER-SOLVENT BEING SOLUBLE TO AT LEAST 15 WEIGHT PERCENT IN WATER, AND CAPABLE OF DISSOLVING AT LEAST 5 WEIGHT PERCENT WATER; (B) MAINTAINING SAID SOLUTION AT A TEMPERATURE OF BETWEEN ABOUT 30* TO 70*C. WHILE ADDING FROM ABOUT 1 TO 50 WEIGHT PERCENT IN EXCESS OF THE AMOUNT OF AN ORGANIC SULFIDE THEORETICALLY NECESSARY TO REACT WITH THE CHLOROMETHYL GROUPS OF SAID POLYMER, SAID SULFIDE ADDITION BEING AT A RATE TO MAINTAIN A VISUALLY CLEAR SOLUTION; AND (C) ADDING AN AMOUNT OF WATER SUFFICIENT TO YIELD A FINAL SOLUTION CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 5 TO 40 WEIGHT PERCENT SOLIDS, SAID WATER BEING ADDED WITHIN ABOUT 6 HOURS AFTER SAID SULFIDE ADDITION AT A RATE TO MAINTAIN AN ESSENTIALLY ONE PHASE REACTION SOLUTION WHICH IS MAINTAINED AT A TEMPERATURE OF BETWEEN ABOUT 30* TO 70*C. WHEREBY A WATER-SOLUBLE TO UNIFORMLY WATER-DISPERSIBLE ARYLMETHYLENE SULFONIUM POLYMER IS PRODUCED.