Thickening aqueous compositions with polyethers modified with alpha-olefin oxides

Claim 2

A thickened aqueous composition comprising water and the polyether polyol prepared by reacting ethylene oxide and at least one lower alkylene oxide having 3 to 4 carbon atoms with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a heteric or block copolymer and further reacting said copolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 percent to about 20 percent by weight based upon the total weight of said thickener.

Claim 3

The composition of claim 1 additionally containing ethylene glycol.

Claim 4

The composition of claim 2 wherein said polyether is prepared by a heteric polymerization of a mixture of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide with trimethylolpropane as initiator to produce an intermediate heteric copolymer which is subsequently capped with said glycidyl ether to produce a polyether having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 40,000.

Claim 5

The composition comprising water and the polyether prepared by reacting ethylene oxide with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a homopolymer and further reacting said homopolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether, said glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 to about 20 percent by weight based on the total weight of said thickener.

Claim 6

The composition comprising water and the polyether prepared by reacting ethylene oxide with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a homopolymer and further reacting said homopolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether, said glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 to about 20 percent by weight based on the total weight of said thickener.

Claim 7

The composition of claim 4 additionally containing ethylene glycol.

Claim 8

The composition of claim 5 wherein said polyether is prepared by the polymerization of a mixture of ethylene oxide with trimethylolpropane as initiator to produce an intermediate which is subsequently capped with said glycidyl ether to produce a polyether having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 40,000.

Claim 9

The process of thickening aqueous systems comprising the addition of an effective thickening amount of a polyether having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 75,000 prepared by reacting ethylene oxide and at least one lower alkylene oxide having 3 to 4 carbon atoms with at least one active hydrogen aliphatic compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a heteric or block copolymer and further reacting said copolymer with at least one alpha-olefin oxide having a carbon chain length of about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said alpha-olefin oxide is present in the amount of about 1 percent to about 20 percent by weight based upon the total weight of said polyether.

Claim 10

The process of thickening aqueous systems comprising the addition of an effective thickening amount of a polyether having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 75,000 prepared by reacting ethylene oxide and at least one lower alkylene oxide having 3 to 4 carbon atoms with at least one active hydrogen aliphatic compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a heteric or block copolymer and further reacting said copolymer with at least one alpha-olefin oxide having a carbon chain length of about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said alpha-olefin oxide is present in the amount of about 1 percent to about 20 percent by weight based upon the total weight of said polyether.

Claim 11

The process of claim 7 wherein said polyether is prepared by polymerizing a mixture of ethylene oxide and at least one of said lower alkylene oxides to prepare a liquid heteric copolymer intermediate which is subsequently capped with said alpha-olefin oxide.

Claim 12

The process of claim 7 wherein said polyether is the reaction product of the sequential polymerization of ethylene oxide and at least one of said lower alkylene oxides to prepare an intermediate block copolymer which is subsequently capped with said alpha-olefin oxide.

Claim 13

The process of claims 8 or 9 wherein the ethylene oxide residue is present in said polyether in an amount of at least 10 percent by weight of the weight of said polyether and said lower alkylene oxide is selected from the group consisting of propylene oxide, the butylene oxides, tetrahydrofuran and mixtures thereof.

Claim 14

The process of claim 10 wherein the proportion of said ethylene oxide residue to the lower alkylene oxide residue in said polyether is in the amount of about 70 to about 99 percent by weight, said lower alkylene oxide residue is present in the amount of about 30 to about 1 percent by weight and said active hydrogen containing aliphatic compound is a polyhydric alcohol having from 2 to 10 carbon atoms and from 2 to 6 hydroxyl groups.

Claim 15

The process of claim 11 wherein said polyhydric alcohol is selected from the group consisting of alkane polyols, alkene polyols, alkyne polyols, and oxyalkylene polyols.

Claim 16

The process of claim 12 wherein said alkane polyol selected from the group consisting of trimethylolpropane, glycerol, 2,3,5,6-hexanetetrol, sorbitol, and pentaerythritol.

Claim 17

The process of claim 13 wherein said aqueous system comprises water or a mixture of water and ethylene glycol and wherein the ratio of said alkane polyol to said alpha-olefin oxide is 1:5 to 1:15.

Claim 18

The process of thickening aqueous systems comprising the addition of an effective thickening amount of a polyether having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 75,000 prepared by reacting ethylene oxide with at least one active hydrogen aliphatic compound containing at least two active hydrogen to prepare a homopolymer and further reacting said homopolymer with at least one alpha-olefin oxide having a carbon chain length of about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said alpha-olefin oxide is present in the amount of about 1 to about 20 percent by weight based on the total weight of said polyether.

Claim 19

The process of thickening aqueous systems comprising the addition of an effective thickening amount of a polyether having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 75,000 prepared by reacting ethylene oxide with at least one active hydrogen aliphatic compound containing at least two active hydrogen to prepare a homopolymer and further reacting said homopolymer with at least one alpha-olefin oxide having a carbon chain length of about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said alpha-olefin oxide is present in the amount of about 1 to about 20 percent by weight based on the total weight of said polyether.

Claim 20

The process of thickening aqueous systems comprising the addition of an effective thickening amount of a polyether to said aqueous system wherein said polyether is a polyether (A) prepared by reacting ethylene oxide and at least one lower alkylene oxide having 3 to 4 carbon atoms with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a heteric or block copolymer and further reacting said copolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 percent to about 20 percent by weight based upon the total weight of said thickener, or (B) prepared by reacting ethylene oxide with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a homopolymer and further reacting said homopolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether, said glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 to about 20 percent by weight based on the total weight of said thickener.

Claim 21

The process of thickening aqueous systems comprising the addition of an effective thickening amount of a polyether to said aqueous system wherein said polyether is a polyether (A) prepared by reacting ethylene oxide and at least one lower alkylene oxide having 3 to 4 carbon atoms with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a heteric or block copolymer and further reacting said copolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 percent to about 20 percent by weight based upon the total weight of said thickener, or (B) prepared by reacting ethylene oxide with at least one active hydrogen compound containing at least two active hydrogens to prepare a homopolymer and further reacting said homopolymer with at least one aliphatic glycidyl ether, said glycidyl ether having about 12 to about 18 aliphatic carbon atoms and wherein said glycidyl ether is present in the amount of about 1 to about 20 percent by weight based on the total weight of said thickener.

Claim 22

The process of claim 16 wherein said polyether thickening agent is the reaction product of the sequential polymerization of ethylene oxide and at least one of said lower alkylene oxides to prepare an intermediate block copolymer which is subsequently capped with said glycidyl ether.

Claim 23

The process of claim 16 wherein said polyether is prepared by polymerizing a mixture of ethylene oxide and at least one of said lower alkylene oxides to prepare a liquid heteric copolymer intermediate which is subsequently capped with said glycidyl ether.

Claim 24

The process of claim 18 wherein said ethylene oxide residue is present in said polyether in an amount of at least 10 percent by weight of the weight of said polyether and said lower alkylene oxide is selected from the group consisting of propylene oxide, the butylene oxides, tetrahydrofuran and mixtures thereof.

Claim 25

The process of claim 19 wherein the proportion of said ethylene oxide residue to said lower alkylene oxide in said polyether is in the amount of about 70 to about 99 percent by weight, said lower alkylene oxide residue is present in the amount of about 30 to about 1 percent by weight and said active hydrogen containing compound is a polyhydric alcohol having about 2 to about 10 carbon atoms and about 2 to about 6 hydroxyl groups.

Claim 26

The process of claim 20 wherein said polyhydric alcohol initiator is selected from the group consisting of alkane polyols, alkene polyols, alkyne polyols, aromatic polyols, and oxyalkylene polyols.

Claim 27

The process of claim 21 wherein said initiator is an alkane polyol selected from the group consisting of trimethylolpropane, glycerol, 2,3,5,6-hexanetetrol, sorbitol, and pentaerythritol.

Claim 28

The process of claim 22 wherein said aqueous system comprises water or a mixture of water and ethylene glycol and wherein the ratio of said initiator to said glycidyl ether is 1:5 to 1:15.