Plate making processing for using negative working light-sensitive lithographic plate requiring no dampening solution

Claim 1

A plate making process which comprises the steps of: (i) imagewise exposing a negative working light-sensitive lithographic plate requiring no dampening solution to light so as to obtain an exposed part and a non-exposed part, wherein said plate comprises a support having in sequence thereon, (A) a light-sensitive layer containing, in admixture, (1) an o-quinonediazide compound; and (2) a coupling component which causes a diazo coupling reaction with said o-quinonediazide compound under a basic environment, wherein said coupling component is employed in an amount that the amount of coupling residue thereof is in a range of 0.05 to 10 equivalents per equivalent of the o-quinonediazide compound contained in the light-sensitive layer, wherein the o-quinonediazide is employed in an amount of from 30 to 95 wt% based on the total weight of the light-sensitive layer and wherein said coupling component comprises polymers having coupler residues in the side chains thereof, wherein said polymers are copolymers composed of (a) at least one monomer selected from acrylic acid esters, methacrylic acid esters and maleic acid esters and (b) a monomer represented by formula (I) below: ##STR6## wherein R is a hydrogen atom or methyl group, A is --COO--, --O-- or --CONH--, and Q is an azo coupling residue which forms an azo dye by causing a coupling reaction with an o-quinonediazide compound under a basic environment, and (B) a silicone rubber layer, (ii) developing the resulting imagewise exposed plate with a developer so as to remove only the silicone rubber layer or both the silicone rubber layer and the light-sensitive layer of the exposed part and thus expose the surface of the light-sensitive layer, a primer layer or the support so as to obtain a lithographic plate requiring no dampening solution, and (iii) at any stage after imagewise exposure, treating said plate with a sufficient amount of basic compound such that the o-quinonediazide compound in the non-exposed part causes a coupling reaction with the coupling component and as a result the non-exposed part does not change even if exposed to light after plate making.