Soluble, solid or crosslinked graft copolymers of lignin (2-propenamide)-(2-methyl-3-oxo-4-oxybut-1-ene-(p-ethoxy-(3*p+3)-ol), methods of making the same and uses therefore

摘要

A soluble, solid, or crosslinked graft copolymer of lignin-(2-propenamide)-(2-methyl-3-oxo-4-oxybut-1-ene-(p-ethoxy-(3*p+3 )-ol) having a central lignin network and at least one grafted side chain, R, having randomly repeating units of the formula: <IMAGE> such that the central lignin network has a molecular weight of about 1,000 to 150,000; the number of ethoxyl repeat units, p, in the polyol repeat unit is between 1 and 300,000; and the total number of random units in the grafted side chain, n+m, or chains, x*(n+m), is in the range of 1 to 300,000 units, such that the total copolymer molecular weight is in the range of 1,000 to 300,000,000. The copolymers of the present invention are useful as 1) thickeners for water and aqueous solutions or 2) plastics and elastomers.