Polymers for laundry cleaning compositions

1. A method of promoting soil release during laundering of a textile fabric, the method comprising contacting the fabric with a polymer comprising a block copolymer containing at least one group A and at least one group B in which each group A is a polymeric block built up from an ethylenically unsaturated polymerisable monomer containing an aliphatic or aromatic moiety which contains a nitrogen atom and each group B is a polymeric block built up from poly (ethylene glycol) and subsequently washing the fabric after wear or use of the fabric.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the block copolymer is an AB or ABA block copolymer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each group A is a polymeric block built up from one or more monomers selected from vinylformamide, vinylpyridines, vinylimidazoles and compounds of the general formula (i):

H 2 C═C(R)—CO—R 1   (I)

where R is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; and

R 1 is a group of formula —O—(CHR 2 ) n —NR 3 R 4 or —NR 5 R 6 in which n is 1, 2 or 3, R 2 represents a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl or alkyl group, R 3 and R 4 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or an optionally substituted alkyl group or R 3 and R 4 together with the interjacent nitrogen atom represent a heterocyclic group, and R 5 and R 6 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or an optionally substituted alkyl group or R 5 and R 6 together with the interjacent nitrogen atom represent a heterocyclic group.

4. The method of claim 3 in which R 1 is a group of formula —O—(CHR 2 ) n —NR 3 R 4 in which n is 2 or 3, R 2 represents a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, and R 3 and R 4 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a C 1-6 alkyl group or R 3 and R 4 together with the interjacent nitrogen atom represent a morpholine or piperazine group.

5. The method of claim 3 in which the monomer of formula I is selected from 2-(t-butylamino)ethyl methacrylate, 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate, 2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate, 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl acrylate, 2-(diethylamino)ethyl acrylate, 2-morpholineethyl methacrylate, 2-hydroxy-3-morpholinepropyl methacrylate, 2-piperazineethyl methacrylate and 2-hydroxy-3-peperazinepropyl methacrylate.

6. The method of claim 5 in which each group A is poly(2-dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) block.

7. The method of claim 3 in which R 1 is a group of formula —NR 6 R 6 in which R 5 and R 6 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a C 1-6 alkyl group optionally substituted by an amino, C 1-4 alkylamino, di-(C 1-4 alkyl) amino group or a 5- to 6-membered heterocyclic group containing at least one nitrogen atom optionally substituted by an oxo group or a C 1-4 alkyl group.

8. The method of claim 3 in which the monomer of formula I is selected from N,N-dimethylacrylamide, N-(t-butyl)acrylamide, N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]-acrylamide, N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]methacrylamide and N-[2-(2-oxo-1 -im idazolidinyl )ethyl]methacrylamide.

9. The method of claim 1 in which each group A has a molecular weight of 100 to 1 000 000.

10. The method of claim 1 in which each group B has a molecular weight of 100 to 100000.

11. The method of claim 1 in which the overall polymer has a polydispersity in the range of 1.1 to 4.0.

12. The method of claim 1 in which each group A has a molecular weight of 1000 to 100,000.

13. The method of claim 1 in which each group B has a molecular weight of 1000 to 50000.

14. The method of claim 1 in which each group B has a molecular weight of 1000 to 40000.

15. The method of claim 1 in which the overall polymer has a polydispersity in the range of 1.1 to 1.6.