Azetidinium-containing copolymers and uses thereof

1. An azetidinium-containing copolymer comprising: reactive monomeric units derived from at least one vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of a carboxyl-containing vinylic monomer, an amino-containing vinylic monomer, and combination thereof, wherein the carboxyl-containing vinylic monomer is selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, a C 1 -C 4 -alkyl acrylic acid, N-2-acrylamidoglycolic acid, and combination thereof, wherein the amino-containing vinylic monomer is selected from the group consisting of amino-C 2 -C 4 alkyl (meth)acrylate, allylamine, vinylamine, amino-C 1 -C 4 alkyl (meth)acrylamide, N-allyl C 1 -C 12 alkanamine, a coupling reaction product of 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, a coupling reaction product of an C 1 -C 12 alkanamine or C 2 -C 12 aminoalkanol or with an epoxy-containing vinylic monomer, and combinations thereof; and

azetidinium-containing monomeric units derived from at least one azetidinium-containing vinylic monomer of 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 copolymer of claim 1 , further comprising monomeric units derived from a hydrophobic vinylic monomer, wherein the hydrophobic vinylic monomer is selected from the group consisting of methyl (meth)acrylate, ethyl (meth)acrylate, propyl (meth)acrylate, isopropyl (meth)acrylate, butyl (meth)acrylate, sec-butyl (meth)acrylate, isobutyl (meth)acrylate, t-butyl (meth)acrylate, cyclohexylacrylate, 2-ethylhexylacrylate, vinyl acetate, vinyl propionate, vinyl butyrate, vinyl valerate, styrene, chloroprene, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, acrylonitrile, 1-butene, butadiene, methacrylonitrile, vinyl toluene, vinyl ethyl ether, perfluorohexylethyl-thio-carbonyl-aminoethyl-methacrylate, isobornyl methacrylate, trifluoroethyl methacrylate, hexafluoro-isopropyl methacrylate, hexafluorobutyl methacrylate, a siloxane-containing vinylic monomer, a polysiloxane-containing vinylic monomer having about 3 to about 40 silicone atoms, and combinations thereof.

3. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 2 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises reactive monomeric units derived from a carboxyl-containing vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, ethylacrylic acid, propylacrylic acid, and combinations thereof.

4. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 3 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises reactive monomeric units derived from a carboxyl-containing vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of methacrylic acid, ethylacrylic acid, and combination thereof.

5. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 3 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises monomeric units derived from at least one hydrophobic vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of at least one siloxane-containing vinylic monomer, at least one polysiloxane-containing vinylic monomer and combinations thereof.

6. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 2 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises monomeric units derived from at least one hydrophobic vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of at least one siloxane-containing vinylic monomer, at least one polysiloxane-containing vinylic monomer and combinations thereof.

7. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 6 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises reactive monomeric units derived from at least one amino-containing vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of: amino-C 2 -C 4 alkyl (meth)acrylate; amino-C 1 -C 4 alkyl (meth)acrylamide; and combinations thereof.

8. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 3 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises reactive monomeric units derived from at least one amino-containing vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of: amino-C 2 -C 4 alkyl (meth)acrylate; amino-C 1 -C 4 alkyl (meth)acrylamide; and combinations thereof.

9. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 2 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises:

reactive monomeric units which are carboxyl-containing monomeric units and/or amino-containing monomeric units; and further comprises

at least about 50% by moles of non-reactive hydrophilic monomeric units derived from at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylamide, N,N-dimethyl (meth)acrylamide, N-vinylpyrrolidone, N,N,-dimethylaminoethyl (meth)acrylate, N,N-dimethylaminopropyl (meth)acrylamide, glycerol methacrylate, 3-acryloylamino-1-propanol, N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide, N-[tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl]-acrylamide, N-methyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 1-ethyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 1-methyl-5-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 1-ethyl-5-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 5-methyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 5-ethyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, hydroxypropyl (meth)acrylate, C 1 -C 4 -alkoxy polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylate having a weight average molecular weight of up to 1500 Daltons, N-vinyl formamide, N-vinyl acetamide, N-vinyl isopropylamide, N-vinyl-N-methyl acetamide, allyl alcohol, vinyl alcohol which is the hydrolyzed form of vinyl acetate in the azetidinium-containing copolymer, a phosphorylcholine-containing vinylic monomer, erythritol (meth)acrylate, arabitol (meth)acrylate, mannitol (meth)acrylate, ducitol (meth)acrylate, fucitol (meth)acrylate, iditol (meth)acrylate, innositol (meth)acrylate, xylitol (meth)acrylate, sorbitol (meth)acrylate, glucose (meth)acrylate, fructose (meth)acrylate, galactose (meth)acrylate, and combinations thereof.

10. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 9 , wherein the reactive monomeric units are derived from at least one carboxyl-containing vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, ethylacrylic acid, propylacrylic acid, and combinations thereof; and

at least about 70% by moles of non-reactive hydrophilic monomeric units derived from at least one hydrophilic vinylic monomer selected from the group consisting of (meth)acrylamide, N,N-dimethyl (meth)acrylamide, N-vinylpyrrolidone, N,N,-dimethylaminoethyl (meth)acrylate, glycerol methacrylate, 3-acryloylamino-1-propanol, N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide, N-[tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl]-acrylamide, N-methyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 1-ethyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 1-methyl-5-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 1-ethyl-5-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 5-methyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 5-ethyl-3-methylene-2-pyrrolidone, 2-hydroxyethyl (meth)acrylate, C 1 -C 4 -alkoxy polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylate having a weight average molecular weight of up to 1500 Daltons, N-vinyl formamide, N-vinyl acetamide, N-vinyl-N-methyl acetamide, allyl alcohol, a phosphorylcholine-containing vinylic monomer, erythritol (meth)acrylate, arabitol (meth)acrylate, mannitol (meth)acrylate, ducitol (meth)acrylate, fucitol (meth)acrylate, iditol (meth)acrylate, innositol (meth)acrylate, xylitol (meth)acrylate, sorbitol (meth)acrylate, glucose (meth)acrylate, fructose (meth)acrylate, galactose (meth)acrylate, and combinations thereof.

11. The azetidinium-containing copolymer of claim 9 , wherein the azetidinium-containing copolymer comprises from about 5% to about 30% by moles of the azetidinium-containing monomeric units and the reactive monomeric units.