Patent ID: 7838643

Claim:
Quaternary polymers having a general formula: wherein T is NH or O, X 1 , X 2 and X 3 are independently: H or a quaternary substituent in the case of T being NH (i.e., chitin and chitosan), X 1 , X 2 and X 3 can also be a quaternary substituent and, in addition, X 1 can also be: H or wherein R 2 and R 3 are independently H or a linear or branched, substituted or unsubstituted alkyl chain with 1 to 6 carbon atoms and m is an integer from 1 to 12, and wherein Y is a quaternary ammonium moiety, selected from piperazine moieties having the formula or selected from the groups wherein R 4 and R 5 are independently a linear or branched, substituted or unsubstituted alkyl chain with 1 to 6 carbon atoms, Z − is a negatively charged counter ion, whereby the degree of substitution (ds) of the quaternary substituent in the polymer structure for the total of the groups X 1 , X 2 and X 3 is from 0.01 to 3, n is the degree of polymerization, and can be an integer from 2 to 100000, with the proviso that when T is O, Y can only have the meaning of the formula (A), (B), (C) or (E).