Aqueous ink, ink cartridge, and ink jet recording method

1. An aqueous ink for ink jet, the aqueous ink comprising:

a pigment; and

a resin for dispersing the pigment,

wherein the pigment is impregnated with a compound having a structure in which at least two structures each represented by General Formula (1) are bonded by a glycoside bond:

wherein, in General Formula (1), each of R 1 to R 6 is independently a hydrogen atom, a methyl group, a phosphonic acid group, —(CH 2 ) x —OH, —(OCH(CH 3 )) y —COOH, —NH(COCH 2 ) z —H, —OCOCH 2 CH(OCOCH 2 (OH)C 11 H 22 CH 3 )C 10 H 20 CH 3 , or —NHCOCH 2 CH(OC 11 H 22 CH 3 )C 10 H 20 CH 3 , and at least one of R 1 and R 2 is a hydroxy group, and each of x, y, and z is independently a number from 0 or more to 6 or less, and

wherein the compound has a weight-average molecular weight of 20,000 or more to 2,200,000 or less.

2. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein an amount of the compound with which the pigment is impregnated is 1 ppm or more to 4,500 ppm or less, in terms of mass ratio, to an amount of the pigment.

3. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein a content (ppm) of the compound with which the pigment is impregnated, in terms of mass ratio, to a total content (ppm) of the compound in the ink is 90% or more.

4. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein the resin has (i) a unit having an aromatic group and (ii) a unit represented by General Formula (2):

wherein, in General Formula (2), each of R 10 to R 13 is independently a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, a cycloalkyl group having 4 to 8 carbon atoms, a carboxylic acid group, or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms and being substituted with a carboxylic acid group, at least one of R 10 to R 13 is a carboxylic acid group or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms and being substituted with a carboxylic acid group, and the rest of R 10 to R 13 are a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, or a cycloalkyl group having 4 to 8 carbon atoms.

5. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein a content (% by mass) of the resin, in terms of mass ratio, to a content (% by mass) of the pigment is 0.05 times or more to 0.50 times or less.

6. An ink cartridge comprising:

an ink; and

an ink storage portion storing the ink,

wherein the ink comprises the aqueous ink according to claim 1 .

7. An ink jet recording method comprising ejecting an ink from an ink jet recording head to record an image on a recording medium,

wherein the ink comprises the aqueous ink according to claim 1 .

8. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein the compound having the structure represented by General Formula (1) is at least one compound selected from the group consisting of rhamnose, glucose, galactose, mannose, glucuronic acid, xylose, glucosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, neuraminic acid, N-acetylneuraminic acid, muramic acid, N-acetylmuramic acid, and lipid A.

9. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein the compound comprises at least one polysaccharide compound selected from the group consisting of dextran, arabinoxylan, xanthan gum, guar gum, hyaluronic acid, gellan gum, ganglioside, peptidoglycan, and lipopolysaccharide.

10. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein the content (% by mass) of the pigment in the ink is 0.1% by mass or more to 15.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink.

11. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein the content (% by mass) of the resin in the ink is 0.1% by mass or more to 5.0% by mass or less based on the total mass of the ink.

12. The aqueous ink according to claim 1 , wherein the compound comprises a polysaccharide compound, and the content (ppm) of the polysaccharide compound present in a free state in the ink is 25 ppm or less based on the total mass of the ink, in which the polysaccharide compound present in a free state means that the polysaccharide compound is not incorporated into the pigment.