Aminated polymeric additives for fuel and lubricants

Claim 1

In a process for aminating a degraded-oxygenated copolymer by reaction with a primary or secondary amine or polyamine to form an oil-soluble sludge dispersing, viscosity-index improving additive for normally liquid hydrocarbon fuels and lubricating oils, the improvement which comprises concurrently reacting a Ziegler-Natta catalyzed polymer with a hydrocarbyl polyamine having from 2 to 60 total carbon atoms and from 2 to 6 nitrogen atoms in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas and at an elevated temperature of from about 130° C. to about 300° C. for from 0.5 to about 12 hours and at a pressure ranging from 0.1 to 20 atmospheres, said polymer being a copolymer of ethylene and one or more C 3 to C 28 alpha-olefins, and characterized by: an ethylene content in the range of about 2 to 98 weight percent; a degree of crystallinity of less than about 25 wt. %; and, a weight average molecular weight of from about 2,000 to 800,000 wherein said improvement provides means for introducing from about 0.01 to 0.8 wt. % nitrogen into said polymer enhancing its dispersancy activity.