Patent ID: 8044170

Claim:
A high functionality, highly branched or hyperbranched polyester having substantial internal linearity with substantial branching at chain ends, wherein the polyester is produced by a process comprising an acid catalyzed reaction of: (1) at least one aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, araliphatic or aromatic dicarboxylic acid (A 2 ); and (2) at least one aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, araliphatic or aromatic diol (B 2 ); with (3A) 0.1-25% of a total amount of at least one aliphatic, cylcoaliphatic, araliphatic or aromatic polyol (C x ) having three or more hydroxyl groups in a first phase of the acid catalyzed reaction, and a remaining amount of the at least one aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, araliphatic or aromatic polyol (C x ) having three or more hydroxyl groups after the first phase of the acid catalyzed reaction; and (4) an optional functionalized building block (E); and (5) an optional α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid (F), wherein the acid catalyzed reaction is carried out in the presence of at least one acidic catalyst, with the proviso that said acidic catalyst is not an enzyme, wherein a molar ratio of hydroxyl groups to carboxylic acid groups is from 5:1 to 1:5, wherein a molar ratio of B 2 :C x is from 0.18:1 to 8.8:1, wherein the polyester has a degree of branching of 10-99.9%, and wherein the polyester has a number average molecular weight of at least 500 g/mol and a polydispersity index of 1.2-50.