Zwitterionic polymers having clay soil removal/anti-redeposition properties useful in detergent compositions

Claim 1

A water-soluble zwitterionic polyurethane having clay soil removal and/or anti-redeposition properties, which comprises units having the formulas I, II and III: ##STR43## R is H or C 1 -C 4 alkyl or hydroxyalkyl; R 1 is C 2 -C 12 alkylene, hydroxyalkylene, alkenylene, cycloalkylene, arylene or alkarylene, or a C 2 -C 3 oxyalkylene moiety having from 2 to about 20 oxyalkylene units provided no O--O or N--O bonds are formed with A 1 ; x is 1; R 2 is --(OR 8 ) y -- or --OR 5 -- provided that no O--O or N--O bonds are formed with A 1 ; R 3 is --(R 8 O)-- y or --R 5 O-- provided that no O--O or O--N bonds are formed with A 1 ; R 4 is C 1 -C 4 alkyl or hydroxyalkyl, --(R 8 O) q --R 9 , or the moiety --(R 5 ) k [(C 3 H 6 O) m (CH 2 CH 2 O) n ](R 5 ) p -X; R 5 is C 1 -C 12 alkylene, hydroxyalkylene, alkenylene, arylene, or alkarylene; each R 6 is C 1 -C 4 alkyl or hydroxyalkyl, --(R 8 O) q -R 9 , or together form the moiety --(CH 2 ) r -A 2 --(CH 2 ) s --, wherein A 2 is --O-- or --CH 2 --; R 7 is H or R 4 ; R 8 is C 2 -C 3 alkylene or hydroxyalkylene; R 9 is ##STR44## or a mixture thereof; X is SO 3 - , OSO 3 31 or CO 2 - ; k is 0 or 1; m is from 0 to about 5; n is at least about 12; m and n are numbers such that the moiety --(CH 2 CH 2 O) n -- comprises at least about 85% by weight of the moiety --[(C 3 H 6 O) m (CH 2 CH 2 O) n ]--; p is 1, or 0 only when X is SO 3 - ; q is from 1 to about 100; r is 1 or 2, s is 1 or 2, and r+s is 3 or 4; y is from 2 to about 20; the number of u, v and w is such that there are at least 2N+ centers and at least 2 X groups, provided that when the polyurethane comprises units of Formula II and III, said units of Formulas II and III are together.