Patent ID: 7432325

Claim:
A nonionic associative thickener comprising: a) a nonionic water soluble polymer backbone comprising a condensation 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: i) D-(L) n -(AO) x -(L) n - ii) D-(L) n -(EO) q -(L) n -(AO) x -(L) n - or iii) D-(L) n -co[(AO) w (EO) x ]-(AO)-(L) n - where: D is a hydrophobe comprising from 1 to about 24 carbon atoms; L is a urethane-containing or urea-containing linker group; EO is an oxyethylene unit; A0 is an oxyalkylene unit comprising from 3 to 6 carbon atoms; co[(AO) w (EO) x ] is a copolymer comprising said AO and said EO; each n is 1; w is an integer in the range of from 3 to about 150; x is an integer in the range of from 4 to about 150; q is an integer in the range of from 1 to about 30; z is an integer in the range of from 1 to w; q is less than x; and wherein said nonionic associative thickener has a weight average molecular weight of at least 10,000.