Patent ID: 8680200

Claim:
A polymer comprising glycerol monomers connected by ether linkages and having 3 to about 170 aldehyde groups per molecule wherein said polymer has the general formula: wherein: A is either (a) a hydrocarbyl group derived by removing one or more hydroxyl groups from an alcohol or polyol containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms and 1 to 8 hydroxyl groups or (b) an oxahydrocarbyl or polyoxahydrocarbyl group derived by removing one or more hydroxyl groups from the reaction product of (i) an alcohol or polyol containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms and 1 to 8 hydroxyl groups cyclic ethers, wherein the of the reaction product is less than or equal to 5,000 Da; R 1 is hydrogen atom, a 1 to 8-carbon hydrocarbyl group, R 2 —[O—R 3 —CHO] p , or R 3 —CHO; R 2 is a polymeric segment comprising 1 to 270 glycerol units connected by ether linkages, wherein each —[O—R 3 —CHO] p , or —[O—R 3 —CHO] m group is attached directly to R 2 by a carbon-oxygen single bond, and wherein no carbon atom that bears an —[O—R 3 —CHO] p , or —[O—R 3 —CHO] m group also bears a hydroxyl group, a second —[O—R 3 —CHO] p , or —[O—R 3 —CHO] m group, or a bond to a second oxygen atom; R 3 is a hydrocarbylene group containing 1 to 2 carbon atoms; and n=1 to 8; m·n=3 to 170; and p=1 to 40, wherein n, m and p are integers.