Hyperbranched Polyesteramides — New Dendritic Polymers

Abstract

Hyperbranched polyesteramides based on commercially attractive monomers have been successfully developed, affording polymers with a high number of end groups and especially multifunctionality on the same molecule. Beside hydroxyl and carboxylic acid groups, hyperbranched polyesteramides can be modified with a broad variety of other functionalities such as unsaturated groups, tertiary amines, or long alkyl chains. Thus the concept of the synthesis allows a broad variety of structures and the resulting properties like polarity or viscosity can be adjusted and fine-tuned for a broad number of applications. This enables the hyperbranched polyesteramides to be used in a variety of (potential) applications, such as crosslinkers in coatings, as toner resin, for dyeing polyolefins, as surfactants, or in cosmetics. Especially impressive is the disperse dyeing of polypropylene fibers, which has been a problem for decades. Hyperbranched polyesteramides based on phthalic anhydride and diisopropanolamine, partially functionalized with stearic acid represent amphiphilic molecules, which are able to fix the dyes via their polar core and at the same time are compatible with the polypropylene matrix through their long alkyl chains.