Star macromolecules for personal and home care
A polymer composition comprising star macromolecules is provided. Each star macromolecule has a core and five or more arms, wherein the number of arms within a star macromolecule varies across the composition of star molecules. The arms on a star are covalently attached to the core of the star; each arm comprises one or more (co)polymer segments; and at least one arm and/or at least one segment exhibits a different solubility from at least one other arm or one other segment, respectively, in a reference liquid of interest.
1. A star macromolecule represented by the Formula:
[( P 1) q 1-( P 2)2] t -Core-[( P 3)3] r Formula
wherein:
Core represents a crosslinked polymeric segment;
P1 represents a hydrophobic polymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers;
P2 represents a polymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers;
P3 represents a hydrophobic polymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers;
q1 represents the number of repeat units in P1;
q2 represents the number of repeat units in P2;
q3 represents the number of repeat units in P3;
t represents the number of copolymeric arms covalently attached to the Core;
r represents the number of polymeric arms covalently attached to the Core; and
wherein
one or more of the repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers within P1 and P3 comprise one or more of (meth)acrylic acid and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid; and
P1 and P2 are different.
2. The star macromolecule of claim 1 is an oil-soluble rheology-modifying star macromolecule.
3. The star macromolecule of claim 1 is a thickener for an oil-based system.
4. The star macromolecule of claim 1 controls rheology in an oil based system.
5. The star macromolecule of claim 1 wherein:
q1 has a value of between 10 and 1000;
q2 has as a value between 50 and 1000; and
q3 has a value between 20 and 500.
6. The star macromolecule of claim 1 wherein the molar ratio of r to t is in the range of between 40:1 and 1:40.
7. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the arms represented by [(P1) q1 -(P2) q2 ] t extend beyond the arms represented by [(P3) q3 ] r .
8. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the number of polymeric arms (r+t) is between 5 and 500.
9. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein (r+t) is greater than 15.
10. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein q2 is greater than q3.
11. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein P2 represents a hydrophobic polymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers.
12. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers within P1, P2, or P3 further comprise a monomeric residue of a polymerized alkyl (meth)acrylate.
13. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers within P1, P2, or P3 further comprise a monomeric residue of a polymerized methyl methacrylate.
14. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers within P1, P2, or P3 further comprise a monomeric residue of a polymerized styrene optionally substituted with one or more C1-C12 straight or branched chain alkyl groups.
15. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers within P1, P2, or P3 further comprise a monomeric residue of a polymerized: dodecyl acrylate, N-dodecyl methacrylamide, styrene or 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate.
16. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized monomers within P1, P2, or P3 further comprise a monomeric residue of a polymerized acrylamide.
17. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the Core comprises monomeric residues of polymerized monomers comprising: 1,2-divinylbenzene; 1,3-divinylbenzene; 1,4-divinylbenzene; 1,2-ethanediol di(meth)acrylate; 1,3-propanediol di(meth)acrylate; 1,4-butanediol di(meth)acrylate; 1,5-hexanediol di(meth)acrylate; divinylbenzene; ethyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; di(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (DEGlyDA); propyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; butyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; triethyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; polyethyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; polypropyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; polybutyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; allyl(meth)acrylate; glycerol di(meth)acrylate; trimethylolpropane ti(meth)acrylate; pentaerythritol tetra(meth)acrylate; ally' methacrylate; allyl acrylate, di(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (DEGlyDA), or divinylbenzene.
18. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric segments P1, P2, and/or P3 are random polymeric segments.
19. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the Core comprises, by weight:
about 0.5%, or more, monomeric residues of polymerized monomers from P2 and P3, and
about 0.5%, or more, monomeric residues of polymerized monomers different from the monomeric residues of polymerized monomers from P1, P2, or P3.
20. The star macromolecule of claim 1 , wherein the Core is crosslinked by a crosslinker comprising ethyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; trimethylolpropane tri(meth)acrylate; propyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; di(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (DEGlyDA); triethyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; polyethyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; polypropyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; 1,4-divinylbenzene; 1,2-divinylbenzene; 1,3-divinylbenzene; 1,2-ethanediol di(meth)acrylate; 1,3-propanediol di(meth)acrylate; 1,4-butanediol di(meth)acrylate; 1,5-hexanediol di(meth)acrylate; divinylbenzene; butyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; polybutyleneglycol di(meth)acrylate; allyl(meth)acrylate; glycerol di(meth)acrylate; pentaerythritol tetra(meth)acrylate; allyl methacrylate; allyl acrylate; or divinylbenzene.