Lactam-polyol-polyacyl lactam terpolymers

Claim 2

A lactam-polyol-polyacyl lactam terpolymer having the general formula: ##STR14## wherein (O--Z) z is a polyol segment having a molecular weight of at least 62 and Z is a hydrocarbon or substituted hydrocarbon group said group being alkylene, arylene, alkylene carbonyl, arylene carbonyl, and mixtures thereof; A is a carbonyl group; R is a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbon group; Y is an alkylene or substituted alkylene having from about 3 to about 14 carbon atoms; x, x', x", and x"' are integers and the total number of x's is equal to 2w + 2; z and w are integers of equal to one or more; and said lactam-polyol-polyacyl lactam block terpolymers are comprised of at least about 18 to about 90 percent by weight of polyol blocks.

Claim 3

A terpolymer according to claim 1 wherein the lactam portion of the terpolymer is formed from a lactam of the formula ##STR15## where Y is an alkylene group having at least about 3 carbon atoms.

Claim 4

A terpolymer according to claim 2 wherein the lactam is ε-caprolactam.

Claim 5

A terpolymer according to claim 1 wherein the polyol portion of the terpolymer is formed from an alkylene glycol.

Claim 6

A terpolymer according to claim 4 wherein said alkylene glycol is ethylene glycol.

Claim 7

A terpolymer according to claim 4 wherein said alkylene glycol is a polyalkylene glycol having a molecular weight of at least about 1000.

Claim 8

A terpolymer according to claim 6 wherein said polyalkylene glycol is polyethylene glycol.

Claim 9

A terpolymer according to claim 6 wherein said polyalkylene glycol is polypropylene glycol.

Claim 10

A terpolymer according to claim 6 wherein said polyalkylene glycol is polytetramethylene glycol.

Claim 11

A terpolymer according to claim 1 wherein the polyol portion of the terpolymer is formed from polybutadiene diol.

Claim 12

A terpolymer according to claim 1 wherein the polyol portion of the terpolymer is formed from a polyester.

Claim 13

A terpolymer according to claim 10 wherein said polyester is polycaprolactone diol.

Claim 14

A copolymer according to claim 1 wherein said terpolymer is a block polymer.

Claim 15

A copolymer according to claim 13 wherein said block terpolymer is of the repeating AB block structure.

Claim 16

A copolymer according to claim 1 wherein said terpolymer is a caprolactam-polyalkylene glycol block polymer with phthaloyl lonkages between the blocks.

Claim 17

A process for preparing lactam-polyol-lactam block terpolymers having the general formula: ##STR16## Wherein (O--Z) z is a polyol segment having a molecular weight of at least 62 and Z is a hydrocarbon or substituted hydrocarbon group said group being alkylene, arylene, alkylene carbonyl, arylene carbonyl, and mixtures thereof; A is a carbonyl group; R is a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbon group; Y is an alkylene or substituted alkylene having from about 3 to about 14 carbon atoms; x, x', x", and x"' are integers and the total number of x's equal to 2w + 2; z and w are integers equal to one or more; and said lactam-polyol-polyacyl lactam block terpolymers are comprised of at least about 18 to about 90 percent by weight of polyol blocks; comprising mixing together lactam monomer, polyol, basic lactam polymerization catalyst and a polyacyl lactam; and polymerizing the lactam; polyol and polyacyl lactam to form the block terpolymer.

Claim 18

A process for preparing lactam-polyol-lactam block terpolymers having the general formula: ##STR16## Wherein (O--Z) z is a polyol segment having a molecular weight of at least 62 and Z is a hydrocarbon or substituted hydrocarbon group said group being alkylene, arylene, alkylene carbonyl, arylene carbonyl, and mixtures thereof; A is a carbonyl group; R is a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbon group; Y is an alkylene or substituted alkylene having from about 3 to about 14 carbon atoms; x, x', x", and x"' are integers and the total number of x's equal to 2w + 2; z and w are integers equal to one or more; and said lactam-polyol-polyacyl lactam block terpolymers are comprised of at least about 18 to about 90 percent by weight of polyol blocks; comprising mixing together lactam monomer, polyol, basic lactam polymerization catalyst and a polyacyl lactam; and polymerizing the lactam; polyol and polyacyl lactam to form the block terpolymer.

Claim 19

A process according to claim 16 wherein said polyol and said polyacyl lactam are reacted before said lactam is added to the polymerization mixture.

Claim 20

A process according to claim 16 wherein said polyol and said polyacyl lactam are reacted before said lactam polymerization catalyst is added to the polymerization mixture.

Claim 21

A process according to claim 16 wherein said polymerization catalyst is an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal lactam or a halogenated alkaline earth metal lactam.

Claim 22

A process according to claim 19 wherein said polymerization catalyst is a bromomagnesium lactam.

Claim 23

A process according to claim 16 wherein said polyacyl lactam is a bis-acyl lactam.

Claim 24

A process according to claim 21 wherein said bis-acyl lactam is terephthaloyl bis-caprolactam.

Claim 25

A process according to claim 21 wherein said bis-acyl lactam is isophthaloyl bis-caprolactam.

Claim 26

A process according to claim 16 wherein the polymerizing is carried out at an initial temperature of about 70° to about 100° C and is increased to about 150° to about 180° C during the polymerization reaction.

Claim 27

A block polymer consisting essentially of a. lactam blocks of the formula ##STR17## b. polyol blocks of the formula --(O--Z) z --O-- and c. polyacyl linkages of the formula ##STR18## in which Y is an alkylene or substituted alkylene having from 3 to about 14 carbon atoms, R is a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbon group, wherein (O--Z) z is a polymeric moiety and z is a hydrocarbon or substituted hydrocarbon group being alkylene, arylene, alkylene carbonyl, arylene carbonyl, and mixture thereof, y is an integer equal to one to three, and x and z are integers equal to one or more, in which the proportion of polyol blocks is at least about 18 but not more than about 90 percent by weight of the polymer.

Claim 28

A block polymer consisting essentially of a. lactam blocks of the formula ##STR17## b. polyol blocks of the formula --(O--Z) z --O-- and c. polyacyl linkages of the formula ##STR18## in which Y is an alkylene or substituted alkylene having from 3 to about 14 carbon atoms, R is a divalent or polyvalent hydrocarbon group, wherein (O--Z) z is a polymeric moiety and z is a hydrocarbon or substituted hydrocarbon group being alkylene, arylene, alkylene carbonyl, arylene carbonyl, and mixture thereof, y is an integer equal to one to three, and x and z are integers equal to one or more, in which the proportion of polyol blocks is at least about 18 but not more than about 90 percent by weight of the polymer.

Claim 29

The polymer according to claim 25 in which Y is alkylene of from about 5 to about 11 carbon atoms, R is divalent hydrocarbon of up to about twenty carbon atoms, z is alkylene of up to six carbon atoms and y is one.

Claim 30

The polymer according to claim 26 in which the proportion of polyol blocks is about 28 percent or more by weight of the polymer.

Claim 31

The polymer according to claim 27 wherein the lactam blocks are formed from a lactam monomer of the formula ##STR19## the polyol blocks are formed from a polyalkylene glycol of number average molecular weight of about 500 to 4000, and the polyacyl linkages are formed from polyacyl lactam of the formula ##STR20##

Claim 32

The polymer according to claim 28 wherein the polyacyl lactam concentration exceeds the stoichiometrical equivalent amount of polyalkylene glycol.

Claim 33

The polymer according to claim 29 wherein the excess of polyacyl lactam is from about 0.1 to about 10 mole percent of the lactam monomer.

Claim 34

The polymer according to claim 30 wherein the lactam monomer is epsilon caprolactam.

Claim 35

The polymer according to claim 31 wherein the polyalkylene glycol is polypropylene glycol or polytetramethylene glycol.

Claim 36

The polymer according to claim 32 wherein the polyalkylene glycol is polypropylene glycol.

Claim 37

The polymer according to claim 33 wherein the polyacyl linkages are phthaloyl radicals.