Patent ID: 7449440

Claim:
A nonionic associative thickener comprising: a) a nonionic water soluble polymer backbone comprising a vinyl addition polymer; and b) at least two pendant polymeric chains attached to said nonionic water soluble polymer backbone; wherein each of said pendant polymeric chains comprise a terminal chain segment selected from: D-(L) n -(PO) x -(L) 1 -(EO) y - i) or D-(L) n -(EO) q -(L) 1 -(PO) x -(L) n - ii) where: D is a hydrophobe comprising from 1 to about 24 carbon atoms; L is a linker group; (L) 1 is a linker group comprising heteroatoms; EO is an oxyethylene unit; PO is an oxypropylene unit; each n is independently selected from zero or 1; q is an integer in the range of from 1 to about 30; x is an integer in the range of from 4 to about 150; y is an integer in the range of from zero to less than x; q is less than x; and wherein said nonionic associative thickener has a weight average molecular weight of at least 10,000.