Sunscreen compositions containing an ultraviolet radiation-absorbing polymer

1. A composition, comprising:

a continuous water phase,

a discontinuous oil phase homogeneously distributed in said water phase, said oil phase comprising a sunscreen agent comprising a polymer composition, said polymer composition comprising about 50% or more of a linear, ultraviolet radiation absorbing polyether that comprises a covalently bound UV-chromophore, wherein said polymer composition has a polydispersity index of about 1.5 or less; and

an oil-in-water emulsifier component comprising an anionic oil-in-water emulsifier in an amount of about 0.5 percent to about 3 percent by weight of said composition;

wherein said linear ultraviolet radiation absorbing polyether comprises a repeat unit selected from the group consisting of

where Y is said covalently bound UV-chromophore.

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said linear ultraviolet radiation absorbing polyether comprises a backbone having glyceryl repeat units.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said linear ultraviolet radiation absorbing polyether is characterized as having the structure:

where R is a pendant group, Y represents said covalently bound UV-chromophore, X is a terminal group, and m and n are real numbers between 0 and 1.

4. The composition of claim 3 , wherein m is 1 and n is 0.

5. The composition of claim 4 , wherein X and R independently are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, linear alkyl, alkenyl or alkynyl hydrocarbon chains, and linear siloxanes.

6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said UV-chromophore is selected from the group consisting of triazoles, camphors, dibenzoylmethanes, 4-aminobenzoic acid and alkane esters thereof, anthranilic acid and alkane esters thereof, salicylic acid and alkane esters thereof, hydroxycinnamic acid and alkane esters thereof, dihydroxy-, dicarboxy-, and hydroxycarboxybenzophenones and alkane ester or acid halide derivatives thereof, dihydroxy-, dicarboxy-, and hydroxycarboxychalcones and alkane ester or acid halide derivatives thereof, dihydroxy-, dicarboxy-, and hydroxycarboxycoumarins and alkane ester or acid halide derivatives thereof, benzalmalonate, benzimidazole derivatives, benzoxazole derivatives, 3-(3-(2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-2-yl)-5-(tert-butyl)-4-hydroxyphenyl), 6-octyl-2-(4-(4,6-di([1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-3-hydroxyphenoxy)propanoate and trioctyl 2,2′,2″-(((1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triyl) tris(3-hydroxybenzene-4,1-diyl))tris(oxy)) tripropanoate.

7. The composition of claim 1 , wherein said UV-chromophore is selected from the group consisting of a benzotriazole and a triazine.