Azetidinium-containing copolymers and uses thereof

1. An azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer, being represented by formula (2)

in which:

R″ is hydrogen or methyl;

p1, p2, and p3 independent of one another are zero or 1;

Y 4 is a linkage selected from the group consisting of a direct bond, —O—, —NR′—, —C(O)—NR′—, —NR′—C(O)—, —O—C(O)—NH—, —NH—C(O)—O—, —NR′—C(O)—NH—, —NH—C(O)NR′—, —C(O)—O—, —O—C(O)—, R′ is hydrogen, a C 1 -C 20 unsubstituted or substituted, linear or branched alkyl group;

Z 4 , is a direct bond, a C 1 -C 20 unsubstituted or substituted, linear or branched alkylene divalent radical optionally containing therein one or more linkages of —O—, —NR′—, and —C(O)—, a C 1 -C 7 alkyleneoxy C 1 -C 7 alkylene divalent radical, or a divalent radical of —(CH(R″)CH 2 O) r1 —CH(R″)CH 2 — in which R″ is as defined above and r1 is an integer of 1 to 20; and

Z 5 is a C 1 -C 20 unsubstituted or substituted, linear or branched alkyl group, —(CH 2 ) r2 —O—(CH 2 CH 2 O) r1 —Z 6 in which r1 is as defined above, r2 is zero or an integer of 1 to 7, and

Z 6 is a C 1 -C 5 alkyl.

2. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 1 , wherein the azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer is obtained by reacting epichlorohydrin directly with a vinylic monomer having a secondary amine group.

3. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 2 , wherein the vinylic monomer having a secondary amine group is N-allyl C 1 -C 12 alkanamine.

4. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 3 , wherein the N-allyl C 1 -C 12 alkanamine is N-ethyl-2-methylallylamine, N-ethylallylamine, N-allylmethylamine, N-allyl-1-pentanamine, N-allyl-2-methyl-1-pentanamine, N-Allyl-2,3-dimethyl-1-pentanamine, N-allyl-1-hexanamine, N-allyl-2-methyl-1-hexanamine, N-allyl-1-heptanamine, N-allyl-1-octanamine, N-allyl-1-ecanamine, or N-allyl-1-dodecanamine.

5. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 2 , wherein the vinylic monomer having a secondary amine group is obtained by reacting an epoxy compound having one sole epoxy group with allylamine, vinylamine, amino-C 2 -C 6 alkyl (meth)acrylate, or amino-C 2 -C 6 alkyl (meth)acrylamide.

6. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 5 , wherein the epoxy compound is 1,2-epoxy C 3 -C 12 alkanes.

7. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 5 , wherein the epoxy compound is a mono-epoxy terminated polyethyleneglycol.

8. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 2 , wherein the vinylic monomer having a secondary amine group is obtained by reacting a C 1 -C 12 alkanamine or amino-C 2 -C 12 alkanol with an epoxy-containing vinylic monomer.

9. The azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of claim 8 , wherein the epoxy-containing vinylic monomer is glycidyl (meth)acrylate, vinyl glycidyl ether, or allyl glycidyl ether.