Dye diffusion transfer process employing compounds that release sulfonamide dye providing radicals

Claim 1

The process of producing colored photographic images by the dye diffusion transfer process comprising the steps of: (a) imagewise exposing a photographic material containing at least one light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer and associated therewith a non-diffusible color-providing compound capable of being oxidized by oxidized silver halide developer and, in oxidized form, of being split in alkaline medium to release a diffusible dye-providing radical having a free sulfonamide group, (b) developing the material with an alkaline silver halide developer to release an image distribution of diffusible dye and (c) transferring the image distribution of diffusible dye to an image-receiving layer, wherein the improvement comprises the dye-giving compound corresponds to the following formula: ##STR13## in which X represents the diffusible dye-providing radical; R 1 represents --OR 4 or NHR 5 where R 4 is hydrogen or a acyl radical that may be hydrolyzed under the conditions of photographic development and R 5 is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, acyl or a heterocyclic group, wherein said R 4 acyl radical and R 5 alkyl, aryl, acyl and heterocyclic radicals include such radicals which together with one of the substituents R 2 and R 3 complete a 5-, 6- or 7-membered heterocyclic ring containing at least one oxygen or nitrogen atom; R 2 represents hydrogen, alkyl, aryl or a heterocyclic group including such alkyl, aryl and heterocyclic radicals which together with one of the substituents R 1 and R 3 complete a 5-, 6- or 7-membered heterocyclic ring, or a nitrogen atom carrying two substituents; the first substituent is a radical selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, aryl and acyl including such alkyl, aryl and acyl radicals which together with R 1 complete a 5-, 6- or 7-membered heterocyclic ring containing at least one nitrogen atom; the second substituent is a radical selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and a radical that together with R 3 completes a 5-, 6- or 7-membered heterocyclic ring containing at least one nitrogen atom; but the two substituents at the nitrogen atom are not both at the same time hydrogen; and R 3 represents hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, a heterocyclic group, acyl, cyano or a radical that together with one of the substituents R 1 and R 2 completes a 5, 6- or 7-membered heterocyclic ring; at least one of the substituents R 1 , R 2 and R 3 or a heterocyclic ring completed by two of these substituents carries a ballasting radical and the released diffusible dye-providing radical has a free sulfonamide group.