Patent ID: 6989035

Claim:
A textile finishing bath comprising a cross-linking composition, the cross-linking composition comprising an aqueous composition having i) at least one cross-linking agent and ii) a catalytic amount of an esterification catalyst, the cross-linking agent comprising at least one cross-linking adjunct selected from the group consisting of: 1) homopolymers of ethylenically-α-β-unsaturated dicarboxylates having the formula wherein R is independently H, OH, OM, or a unit having the formula: where X is independently selected from H, OH, or OSO 3 M; R 1, R 2, R 3 are independently selected from H, CH 3 , C 1 –C 12 alkyl, aryl, CO 2 M, or (CH 2 ) n CO 2 M, where n is from 1 to 12; M is H, or a salt forming cation; the indices x, y, and z are each independently greater than or equal to 0; x+y+z is greater than or equal to 1, Q is H, OH, OM but not H when both x and z are greater than or equal to 1; 2) copolymers of ethylenically-α-β-unsaturated dicarboxylates having the formula wherein R is independently H, OH, OM, or a unit having the formula where X is independently selected from H, OH, or OSO 3 M; R 1 , R 2 , R 3 are independently selected from H, CH 3 , C 1 –C 12 alkyl, aryl, CO 2 M, or (CH 2 ) n CO 2 M, where n is from 1 to 12; M is H, or a salt forming cation; the indices x, y, and z are each independently greater than or equal to 0; x+y+z is greater than or equal to 1, Q is H, OH, OM but not H when both x and z are greater than or equal to 1; 3) copolymers of ethylenically-α-β-unsaturated dicarboxylates polymerized with vinyl-containing monomers where the copolymers have the formula: wherein R is independently H, OH, OM, or a unit having the formula where X is independently selected from H, OH, or OSO 3 M; R 1 , R 2 , R 3 are independently selected from H, CH 3 , C 1 –C 12 alkyl, aryl, CO 2 M, or (CH 2 ) n CO 2 M, where n is from 1 to 12; R 4 , R 5 , R 6 are independently selected from H, alkyl, aryl, alkenyl, carboxy or alkylcarboxy, ester and functionalized esters, anhydride, amide, cyano, urea, alcohol, ether, acetal, phosphino, phosphono, sulfonate, sulfonamide, heterocycles such as imidazole, thiol, thioester, and mixtures thereof; the indices x, y, and z are each independently greater than or equal to 0; x+y+z is greater than or equal to 1, Q is H, OH, OM but not H when both x and z are greater than or equal to 1; and 4) mixtures thereof; wherein the aqueous finishing bath further comprises 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) and the BTCA accounts for from about 0.1 to about 75% of the total cross-linking agent in the aqueous finishing bath.