Patent ID: 7399566

Claim:
A color toner composition adapted for electrophotographic printing comprising: (a) a thermoplastic resin; (b) a charge control agent; and (c) a polymeric colorant, said polymeric colorant being selected from the group consisting of methine-based colorants, azo-based colorants, benzodifuranone-based colorants, and triphenylmethane-based colorants, and said polymeric colorant conforming to the structure of formula (I): R E Z-X) n ]m (I) wherein R or R-E is an organic chromophore, E is a linking moiety selected from the group consisting of N, O, S, SO 3 , SO 2 N, and CO 2 , n and m are independently selected from the group consisting of integers from 1 to 5, each Z is an oligomeric constituent independently selected from the group consisting of: (i) divalent oligomeric alkylene oxide radicals having a molecular weight of 44 to about 3000, the divalent oligomeric alkylene oxide radical comprising monomers selected from the group consisting of ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, butylene oxide, glycidol, and combinations thereof, (ii) divalent aliphatic oligomeric esters conforming to structure (II) wherein each R 1 and R 2 are independently selected from the group consisting of H and C 1 -C 10 alkyl groups, f is an integer from 1 to 10, and g is any positive integer from 1 to 20, and (iii) combinations of (i) and (ii); wherein each X is an end group independently selected from the group consisting of H, OH, SH, NH 2 , alkyl groups, aryl groups, alkyl ester groups, aryl ester groups, organic sulfonate groups, organic sulfate groups, and amide groups.