Polymer composition

1. A polymer composition which is obtained by neutralizing a polymer P having at least one functional moiety of the formula (I):

bound to the termini and/or to the backbone of a polymer, where

# indicates the point of attachment to the terminus of the polymer and/or to the polymer backbone;

k is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4;

m is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9;

A is a chemical bond or a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 6 alkylene, —O—(C 2 -C 6 alkylene), —C(═O)—O—(C 2 -C 6 alkylene), —NR 3 —(C 2 -C 6 alkylene) and C(═O)—NR 3 —(C 2 -C 6 alkylene), where the C 2 -C 6 alkylene part is attached to Q;

Q is a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of —O—, —NH— and —S—;

R 1 is independently selected from the group consisting of —OH, —COOCH 3 , —NO 2 , —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 20 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy, halogen, aryloxy, aryl, heteroaryl, where aryl, heteroaryl and aryloxy are unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2, 3 or 4 radicals selected from the group consisting of —OH, COOH, —COOCH 3 , —NO 2 , —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy and halogen;

R 2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 20 alkyl, C 3 -C 10 cycloalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, aryl-C 1 -C 4 -alkyl and heteroaryl-C 1 -C 4 -alkyl, where aryl and heteroaryl in the four last mentioned radicals are unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2, 3 or 4 radicals selected from the group consisting of —OH,COOH, —COOCH 3 , —NO 2 , —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy and halogen;

X is a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of linear C 1 -C 10 alkylene, linear C 2 -C 6 alkenylene, C 4 -C 7 cycloalkylene, arylene and alkarylene, where the linear C 1 -C 10 alkylene, linear C 2 -C 6 alkenylene and C 4 -C 7 cycloalkylene are unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2, 3 or 4 radicals selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 18 alkyl or C 1 -C 18 alkenyl, and where arylene and alkarylene are unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2, 3 or 4 radicals selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 haloalkyl, aryl, —COOH, —COOCH 3 , —NO 2 and halogen;

R 3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 20 alkyl, C 3 -C 10 cycloalkyl, aryl and heteroaryl, where aryl and heteroaryl are unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2, 3 or 4 radicals selected from the group consisting of —OH, COOH, —COOCH 3 , —NO 2 , —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy and halogen;

R 4 is selected from the group consisting of OH, C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy, aryl and heteroaryl, where aryl and heteroaryl are unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2, 3 or 4 radicals selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy and halogen;

with an oligomeric or polymeric amine PA having at least 2 amine groups per molecule.

2. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where in formula (I)

k is 0 or 1;

m is 0 or 1;

A is a chemical bond or a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of —C(═O)—O—(C 2 -C 4 alkylene) and C(═O)—NH—(C 2 -C 4 alkylene), where the alkylene part is attached to Q;

Q is a divalent moiety selected from the group consisting of —O— and —NH—;

R 1 is independently selected from the group consisting of —OH, —NO 2 , —S(═O) 2 R 4 , C 1 -C 4 alkyl, C 1 -C 4 alkoxy, halogen, phenyl and pyridyl;

R 2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, C 1 -C 4 alkyl and phenyl;

X is selected from the group consisting of linear C 2 -C 6 alkylene, C 2 -C 6 alkenylene and 1,2-phenylene, where C 2 -C 6 alkylene and C 2 -C 6 alkenylene are unsubstituted or carry a C 1 -C 18 alkyl or C 1 -C 18 alkenyl radical and 1,2-phenylene is unsubstituted or substituted by 1 or 2 radicals selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 3 alkyl, —COOH and halogen;

R 4 is selected from the group consisting of C 1 -C 4 alkyl.

3. The polymer composition of claim 2 , where in formula (I) k and m are both 0, R 2 is hydrogen and X is C 2 -C 4 alkylene.

4. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the group of formula (I) is bound to the termini and/or to the backbone of a polymer which is selected from the group consisting of polyesters, polyethers, polyether esters, polycarbonates and polymers having a C—C-backbone.

5. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the polymer P has a number average molecular weight in the range from 500 to 100.000 Dalton, determined according to DIN 55672-1.

6. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the polymer P is characterized by an acid number in the range of from 5 to 500 mg KOH/g.

7. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the oligomeric or polymeric amine PA having at least 2 amine groups per molecule is selected from

poly-C 2 -C 3 -alkyleneimines,

ethoxylated poly-C 2 -C 3 -alkyleneimines,

amidated poly-C 2 -C 3 -alkyleneimines,

polyvinylamines,

polyetheramines,

polyetheraminepolyols,

polyetheramine polyols, wherein at least a portion of the hydroxyl groups are modified by ester, amide or urethane groups, and

homo and copolymers of ethylenically unsaturated monomers M comprising monomers MA having an ethylenically unsaturated double bond and an amine group.

8. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the oligomeric or polymeric amine PA having at least 2 amine groups per molecule is selected from

polyethyleneimines,

ethoxylated polyethyleneimines,

polyethyleneimines, which bear at least one polyester group,

polyvinylamines,

polycondensation products of trialkanolamines;

polycondensation products of trialkanolamines, wherein at least a portion of the hydroxyl groups are modified by ester, amide or urethane groups,

copolymers of ethylenically unsaturated monomers M comprising monomers MA having an acrylate or methacrylate group and an amine group.

9. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the oligomeric or polymeric amine has an amine number in the range from 10 to 2000 mg KOH/g.

10. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the oligomeric or polymeric amine has a number average molecular weight in the range from 100 to 50,000 g/mol, determined according to DIN 55672-1.

11. The polymer composition of claim 1 , where the oligomeric or polymeric amine PA is present in such an amount that the molar ratio of amino groups in PA to the COOH groups in the moieties of formula (I) are in the range from 1:3 to 3:1.

12. The polymer composition of claim 1 , further containing a plasticizer.

13. A process for the manufacturing of the polymer composition as claimed in claim 1 , which comprises

a) providing a polymer P.1 carrying at least one radical of the formula I.1:

bound to the termini and/or backbone of the polymer P.1,

where # indicates the point of attachment to the terminus and/or to the polymer backbone and

where A, Q, k, m, R 1 and R 2 are as defined in claim 1 ,

b) further reacting the polymer P.1 obtained in step a) with an acid anhydride of formula (IV)

where X′ has the meanings given for X in claim 1 and if X′ carries 2, 3 or 4 COOH groups, two COOH groups may form an anhydride group;

c) neutralizing the reaction product of step b) with an oligomeric or polymeric amine PA having at least 2 amine groups per molecule.

14. The process as claimed in claim 13 , where step a) comprises reacting a polymer P having at least one functional moiety of the formula A-Q-H attached to the termini and/or to the backbone of the polymer P with a compound of the formulae II, II′ or III

where A, Q, k, R 1 and R 2 are as defined in claim 1 ,

Where R L is hydrogen or a hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 8 carbon atoms and where the polymer P′ does not have a functional group of the formula I.1.

15. A liquid composition in the form of a dispersion comprising a fine particulate solid material, selected from the group consisting of pigments and fillers, a liquid diluent, wherein the fine particulate solid material is dispersed in the liquid diluent, further comprising the polymer composition as defined in claim 1 .

16. The liquid composition of claim 15 , where the weight ratio of fine particulate solid material to polymer P is in the range from 100:1 to 1:50.

17. The liquid composition of claim 15 , comprising

i) 1 to 70% by weight, based on the total weight of the liquid composition, of at least one fine particulate solid material, selected from the group consisting of pigments and fillers;

ii) 0.5 to 50% by weight, based on the total weight of the liquid composition, of the polymer composition;

iii) 10 to 98.5% by weight, based on the total weight of the liquid composition, of at least one liquid diluent.

18. The liquid composition of claim 16 , where the weight ratio of fine particulate solid material to polymer P is in the range from 30:1 to 1:10.