Method of hydrophilizing or hydrophobizing polymers

Claim 1

A method for preparing thermoplastic, processable, hydrophilic- or hydrophobic-modified polymers comprising the steps: (a) interpolymerizing at a temperature in the range of room temperature to 100° C. in the presence of an amount of free radical initiator in the range of 0.01 to 5.0 weight percent (1) 1 to 50 mole percent of an alkenyl azlactone monomer, (2) 50 to 99 mole percent of at least one free radical addition polymerizable monomer, to form an interpolymer, said monomer being selected from the group consisting of vinyl aromatic compounds, α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids and their derivatives, vinyl esters of carboxylic acids, vinyl halides, olefins, N-vinyl compounds, vinyl ketones, and vinyl aldehydes; (b) reacting in a ring-opening reaction at room or moderate temperatures in an unreactive solvent said resulting interpolymer with 0.1 to 1.0 equivalents, based on polymer-bound azlactone, of an alcohol- or amino-functional hydrophilic or hydrophobic nucleophile having a molecular weight greater than 100, said hydrophilic nucleophile having a Hydrophilicity Index greater than 30 or said hydrophobic nucleophile having a Hydrophilicity Index less than 20, and having the formula HXG wherein H is hydrogen, X is equal to --O--, or ##STR9## and wherein R 8 is equal to H, G, or G', wherein G' is any other hydrophilic or hydrophobic group other than G, or an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, G is any hydrophilic group such that its Hydrophilicity Index has a value of at least 30 or G is any hydrophobic group such that its Hydrophilicity Index has a value of 20 or less, and G' is equal to G or can differ from G, provided that G' is alike in kind with G and the Hydrophilicity Index for the hydrophilic group or the hydrophobic group falls within the respective limitations for G; with the proviso that said reacting step takes place in the presence of 0.01 to 5.0 weight percent of a Bronsted or Lewis acid catalyst when said hydrophilic nucleophile is alcohol-functional; and (c) recovering the resulting hydrophilic- or hydrophobic-modified polymer.

Claim 2

A method for preparing thermoplastic, processable, hydrophilic- or hydrophobic-modified polymers comprising the steps: (a) interpolymerizing at a temperature in the range of room temperature to 100° C. in the presence of an amount of free radical initiator in the range of 0.01 to 5.0 weight percent (1) 1 to 50 mole percent of an alkenyl azlactone monomer, (2) 50 to 99 mole percent of at least one free radical addition polymerizable monomer, to form an interpolymer, said monomer being selected from the group consisting of vinyl aromatic compounds, α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids and their derivatives, vinyl esters of carboxylic acids, vinyl halides, olefins, N-vinyl compounds, vinyl ketones, and vinyl aldehydes; (b) reacting in a ring-opening reaction at room or moderate temperatures in an unreactive solvent said resulting interpolymer with 0.1 to 1.0 equivalents, based on polymer-bound azlactone, of an alcohol- or amino-functional hydrophilic or hydrophobic nucleophile having a molecular weight greater than 100, said hydrophilic nucleophile having a Hydrophilicity Index greater than 30 or said hydrophobic nucleophile having a Hydrophilicity Index less than 20, and having the formula HXG wherein H is hydrogen, X is equal to --O--, or ##STR9## and wherein R 8 is equal to H, G, or G', wherein G' is any other hydrophilic or hydrophobic group other than G, or an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, G is any hydrophilic group such that its Hydrophilicity Index has a value of at least 30 or G is any hydrophobic group such that its Hydrophilicity Index has a value of 20 or less, and G' is equal to G or can differ from G, provided that G' is alike in kind with G and the Hydrophilicity Index for the hydrophilic group or the hydrophobic group falls within the respective limitations for G; with the proviso that said reacting step takes place in the presence of 0.01 to 5.0 weight percent of a Bronsted or Lewis acid catalyst when said hydrophilic nucleophile is alcohol-functional; and (c) recovering the resulting hydrophilic- or hydrophobic-modified polymer.