Pigment dispersions with polymeric dispersants having pending chromophore groups

1. A pigment dispersion comprising:

a color pigment; and

a polymeric dispersant including more than one pending chromophore group covalently bonded to a polymeric backbone of the polymeric dispersant through a linking group; wherein

the more than one pending chromophore group is a derivative from a color pigment including an aromatic group selected from the group consisting of monoazo pigments, disazo pigments, β-naphtol pigments, naphtol AS pigments, azo pigment lakes, benzimidazolone pigments, disazo condensation pigments, metal complex pigments, isoindolinone pigments, isoindolinine pigments, phthalocyanine pigments, quinacridone pigments, diketopyrrolo-pyrrole pigments, thioindigo pigments, anthraquinone pigments, anthrapyrimidine pigments, indanthrone pigments, flavanthrone pigments, pyranthrone pigments, anthanthrone pigments, isoviolanthrone pigments, aluminium pigment lakes, dioxazine pigments, triarylcarbonium pigments, and quinophthalone pigments;

the more than one pending chromophore group is a chromophore group occurring as a side group on the polymeric backbone and not a group in the polymeric backbone itself or occurring solely as an end group of the polymeric backbone;

the linking group consists of all the atoms between the polymeric backbone and the first atom of the aromatic group of the pending chromophore group by which the pending chromophore group is linked to the polymeric backbone;

the polymeric dispersant has a polymeric backbone with a polymerization degree between 5 and 1,000;

at most 30% of the monomer units of the polymeric backbone have a pending chromophore group; and

the linking group is selected from the group consisting of an amide group, an ester group, a urethane group, an ether group, and a thioether group.

2. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the linking group has a molecular weight smaller than the molecular weight of the pending chromophore group.

3. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein at least 2% of the monomer units of the polymeric backbone have a pending chromophore group.

4. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the more than one pending chromophore group has a molecular weight which is smaller than 93% of the molecular weight of the color pigment.

5. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the pending chromophore group is represented by Formula (I):

wherein

L is a linking group forming a covalent bond with the polymeric backbone; and

R1 to R8 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an alkyl group, and a halogen.

6. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the color pigment is selected from the group consisting of C. I. Pigment Red 122, C. I. Pigment Red 192, C. I. Pigment Red 202, C. I. Pigment Red 207, C. I. Pigment Red 29, and C. I. Pigment Violet 19.

7. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the pending chromophore group is represented by formula (II):

wherein

one of L1, L2, or L3 is the linking group and is selected from the group consisting of an aliphatic group, a substituted aliphatic group, an unsaturated aliphatic group, and a substituted unsaturated aliphatic group;

L1, L2, and/or L3, if not representing the linking group, are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkoxy group, a carboxylic acid group, an ester group, an acyl group, a nitro group, and a halogen; and

AR1 and AR2 represent an aromatic group.

8. The pigment dispersion according to claim 7 , wherein the pending chromophore group is represented by Formula (III):

wherein

one of R1 to R11 is the linking group forming a covalent bond with the polymeric backbone;

R1 to R11, if not representing the linking group, are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an alkyl group, an alkenyl group, an alkoxy group, an alcohol group, a carboxylic acid group, an ester group, an acyl group, a nitro group, and a halogen; or

R7 and R8 may together form a heterocyclic ring.

9. The pigment dispersion according to claim 8 , wherein the heterocyclic ring formed by R7 and R8 is imidazolone or 2,3-dihydroxypyrazine.

10. The pigment dispersion according to claim 7 , wherein the pending chromophore group represented by formula (III) having an unreacted linking group is selected from the group consisting of:

11. A pigment dispersion according to claim 7 , wherein the color pigment is selected from the group consisting of C. I. Pigment Yellow 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 17, 49, 55, 63, 65, 73, 74, 75, 81, 83, 87, 97, 98, 111, 113, 116, 121, 124, 130, 152, 170, 171, 172, 174, and 188.

12. A pigment dispersion according to claim 7 , wherein the color pigment is selected from the group consisting of C. I. Pigment Yellow 120, C. I. Pigment Yellow 151, C. I. Pigment Yellow 154, C. I. Pigment Yellow 175, C. I. Pigment Yellow 180, C. I. Pigment Yellow 181, C. I. Pigment Yellow 194, C. I. Pigment Orange 1, C. I. Pigment Orange 36, C. I. Pigment Orange 60, C. I. Pigment Orange 62, and C. I. Pigment Orange 72.

13. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the polymeric backbone of the polymeric dispersant is a homopolymer.

14. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the linking group contains at least one atom selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a nitrogen atom, and a sulfur atom.

15. The pigment dispersion according to claim 14 , wherein the linking group in unreacted form is represented by —O—CH 2 —CH 2 —OH.

16. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the pigment dispersion is an inkjet ink.

17. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the inkjet ink is a curable inkjet ink.

18. A method for preparing the pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , comprising the steps of:

preparing the polymeric dispersant by copolymerizing a monomer already containing the pending chromophore group; and

dispersing a pigment with the polymeric dispersant.

19. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein two, three, or more of the pending chromophore groups are located in close proximity of each other on the polymeric backbone with close proximity meaning less than 50 monomeric units between two pending chromophore groups.

20. The pigment dispersion according to claim 1 , wherein the pigment dispersion is an inkjet ink containing the color pigment in an amount of 0.1 wt % to 20 wt % based on the total weight of the inkjet ink.