Patent ID: 7858694

Claim:
Polymer of formula (I) In-[(A) x -(B) y -(A′) x′ -(E) z ] n (I) obtained by nitroxyl mediated controlled free radical polymerization whereby an excess of acrylate is present, wherein In is the initiator fragment starting the polymerisation reaction; A and A′ are the same or different monomers selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, acrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )alkyl esters, acrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )hydroxyalkyl esters, methacrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )alkyl esters, methacrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )hydroxyalkyl esters, acrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )alkyl esters or methacrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )alkyl esters which are substituted by amino, (C 1 -C 22 )alkylamino, (C 1 -C 22 )dialkylamino, —SO 3 H, epoxy, fluoro, perfluoro or siloxane groups, styrene, substituted styrene, acrylamide methacrylamide, N-mono(C 1 -C 22 )alkyl acrylamide and N,N-di(C 1 -C 22 )alkyl acrylamide; provided that the amount of unsubstituted acrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )alkyl esters or/and methacrylic acid (C 1 -C 22 )alkyl esters is more than 30% by weight based on the weight of the total monomer mixture; and B is at least one multifunctional monomer with two or more ethylenically unsaturated bonds with the proviso that at least one of these ethylenically unsaturated bonds is of higher reactive than the other double or triple bond or bonds E is a group bearing at least one stable free nitroxyl radical, which is bound via the oxygen atom to the polymer or copolymer; or a group which results from a substitution or elimination reaction of the attached stable free nitroxyl radical; x and x′ independently is zero or a number between 5 to 5000; y is a number between 5 to 5000; z is a number 1 or greater than 1 indicating the average number of end groups E attached to the monomer sequence (A) x -(B) y ; n is a number from 1 to 20.