Hydroxyl-containing liquid polymers and process for preparation thereof

Claim 1

A process for preparing a hydroxyl-containing liquid polymer containing an average from 1.1 to 4 hydroxyl groups per molecule, said polymer having an aliphatic backbone containing carbon-carbon linkages comprising at least 95% of total polymeric backbone weight, said process comprising polymerizing (1) at least one vinylidene monomer having at least one terminal CH 2 ═C< group, together with (2) at least one hydroxyl-containing disulfide having the formula ##STR11## wherein m is an integer from 0 to 10, and n is an integer from 1 to 10, (3) the polymerization being conducted in the presence of ultraviolet radiation having a wavelength from about 1,850 A to about 6,000 A, wherein (4) said vinylidene monomer is selected from the group consisting of (a) monoolefins containing 2 to 14 carbon atoms, (b) dienes containing 4 to 10 carbon atoms, (c) vinyl and allyl esters of carboxylic acids containing 2 to 8 carbon atoms, (d) vinyl and allyl ethers of alkyl radicals containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and (e) acrylic acids and acrylates having the formula ##STR12## said R being hydrogen or an alkyl or hydroxyalkyl radical containing 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and said R 1 being hydrogen, an alkyl or hydroxyalkyl radical containing 1 to 18 carbon atoms, or an alkoxyalkyl, alkylthioalkyl, or cyanoalkyl radical containing 2 to 12 carbon atoms.