Vinyl alcohol copolymers containing allylamine functionality

摘要

A modified poly(vinyl alcohol) copolymer is provided containing copolymerized units of allylamine and/or diallylamine by copolymerizing a vinyl ester, such as vinyl acetate, and an N-allylamide and/or N,N-diallylamide, such as N-allylformamide and/or N,N-diallylformamide and hydrolyzing first the ester groups to hydroxy groups and then the amide groups to amine groups. The second hydrolysis is carried out on solvent-swollen particulate polymer slurried in an acidic or basic medium. The modified polymer can contain small amounts of unhydrolyzed ester and amide groups in addition to the hydroxy and amine functionality which characterizes the copolymer.