Patent ID: 7105109

Claim:
A polymeric composition comprising (a) a polymer component susceptible to heat-induced deterioration, (b) degradation products of a blocked mercaptan present in an amount of from about 1 to about 3.5 parts per hundred parts of said polymer component during processing of said polymeric composition at an elevated temperature, wherein said degradation products comprise a free mercaptan, and wherein said blocked mercaptan has the structure: wherein: a is 0 or 1, m and n are 0 or 1; y=1 to 4; when y1, z is 1 to 4; when y is more than 1, z is 1; R 1 is an alkoxycarbonylalkyl, alkoxycarbonylalkylenyl, hydroxyalkoxycarbonylalkyl, hydroxy(polyalkoxy)carbonylalkyl, alkoxy(polyalkoxy)carbonylalkyl, mercaptoalkoxycarbonylalkyl, mercaptoalkoxycarbonylalkylenyl, tetrahydropyranyloxycarbonylalkyl, tetrahydropyranyloxy(polyalkoxy)carbonylalkyl, or alkylcarbonyloxy(polyalkoxy)carbonylalkyl radical having from 1 to 22 carbon atom; R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , and R 7 , are independently hydrogen, a hydroxyl, mercapto, acyl, alkyl, alkylenyl, aryl, haloaryl, alkaryl, aralkyl, hydroxyalkyl, mercaptoalkyl, hydroxyaryl, alkoxyaryl, alkoxyhydroxyaryl, mercaptoalkylenyl, mercaptoalkoxycarbonylalkylenyl, hydroxyaryl, arylcarbonyl, mercaptoaryl, carboxyalkyl, or carboxyaryl radical having from 1 to 22 carbon atoms; and X is aryl, haloaryl, alkaryl, hydroxyaryl, dihydroxyaryl, aralkyl, alkoxyaryl, arylcycloalkyl, or a heteroatom; with the option that, when a is 1 and m is 0, one of the R 3 and R 5 radicals joins with R 7 and X to farm a heterocyclic moiety with X as a heteroatom selected from the group consisting of oxygen and sulfur; with the further option that, when m is 1, R 6 and R 7 form a heterocyclic moiety in conjunction with X as a nitrogen atom; with the proviso that, when R 6 is not a hydroxyl or mercapto, z is 1; and (c) at least one zinc compound, wherein when both zinc chloride and zinc carboxylate are present, the ratio of zinc contributed by zinc carboxylate to zinc contributed by zinc chloride either is between 0:100 and 10:90 or is between 80:20 and 100:0.