Patent ID: 7288616

Claim:
An associative polymer that is the product of polymerization of a monomer mixture comprising: (a) at least one acidic vinyl monomer or a salt thereof; (b) at least one nonionic vinyl monomer; (c) a first associative monomer having a first hydrophobic end group; (d) at least one monomer selected from a second associative monomer having a second hydrophobic end group, a semihydrophobic monomer, and a combination thereof; and, optionally, (e) a monomer selected from a crosslinking monomer, a chain transfer agent, and a combination thereof; with the proviso that when monomer (d) is a second associative monomer and said semihydrophobic monomer is not present, the first and second hydrophobic end groups of associative monomers (c) and (d) are each selected from a substituted or unsubstituted C 22 and C 12 linear alkyl, respectively; wherein said first and second associative monomers are selected from at least one monomer of the formula: wherein, each R 2 is independently H, methyl, —C(O)OH, or —C(O)OR 3 ; R 3 is C 1 -C 30 alkyl; A is —CH 2 C(O)O—, —C(O)O—, —O—, —CH 2 O—, —NHC(O)NH—, —C(O)NH—, —Ar—(CE 2 ) z —NHC(O)O—, —Ar—(CE 2 ) z —NHC(O)NH—, or —CH 2 CH 2 NHC(O)—; Ar is a divalent aryl; E is H or methyl; z is 0 or 1; k is an integer in the range of 0 to about 30, and m is 0 or 1, with the proviso that when k is 0, m is 0, and when k is in the range of 1 to about 30, m is 1; (R 4 —O) n is a polyoxyalkylene, which is a homopolymer, a random copolymer, or a block copolymer of C 2 -C 4 oxyalkylene units, wherein R 4 is C 2 H 4 , C 3 H 6 , C 4 H 8 , and n is an integer in the range of about 5 to about 250, Y is —R 4 O—, —R 4 NH—, —C(O)—, —C(O)NH—, —R 4 NHC(O)NH—, or —C(O)NHC(O)—; and R 5 is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl selected from a C 8 -C 40 linear alkyl, a C 8 -C 40 branched alkyl, a C 8 -C 40 carbocyclic alkyl, a C 2 -C 40 alkyl-substituted phenyl, an aryl-substituted C 2 -C 40 alkyl, and a C 8 -C 80 complex ester; wherein the R 5 alkyl group optionally comprises one or more substituents selected from a hydroxyl group, an alkoxyl group, and a halogen group; and said semihydrophobic monomer is selected from at least one monomer of the formulas: wherein, in each of formulas (IV) and (V), each R 6 is independently H, C 1 -C 30 alkyl, —C(O)OH, or —C(O)OR 7 ; R 7 is C 1 -C 30 alkyl; A is —CH 2 C(O)O—, —C(O)O—, —O—, —CH 2 O—, —NHC(O)NH—, —C(O)NH—, —Ar—(CE 2 ) z —NHC(O)O—, —Ar—(CE 2 ) z —NHC(O)NH—, or —CH 2 CH 2 NHC(O)—; Ar is a divalent aryl; E is H or methyl; z is 0 or 1; p is an integer in the range of 0 to about 30, and r is 0 or 1, with the proviso that when p is 0, r is 0, and when p is in the range of 1 to about 30, r is 1; (R 8 —O) v is a polyoxyalkylene, which is a homopolymer, a random copolymer or a block copolymer of C 2 -C 4 oxyalkylene units, wherein R 8 is C 2 H 4 , C 3 H 6 , C 4 H 8 , and v is an integer in the range of about 5 to about 250, R 9 is H or C 1 -C 4 alkyl; and D is a C 8 -C 30 unsaturated alkyl or a carboxy-substituted C 8 -C 30 unsaturated alkyl.