Star Macromolecules for Personal and Home Care

Abstract

A polymer composition comprising star macromolecules is provided. Each star macromolecule has a core and five or more arms, wherein the number of arms within a star macromolecule varies across the composition of star molecules. The arms on a star are covalently attached to the core of the star; each arm comprises one or more (co)polymer segments; and at least one arm and/or at least one segment exhibits a different solubility from at least one other arm or one other segment, respectively, in a reference liquid of interest.

1 . A star macromolecule represented by Formula X:
   [(P1) q1 -(P2) q2 ] t -Core-[(P3) q3 ] r   Formula X
   
       wherein:
 Core represents a crosslinked polymeric segment; 
 P1 represents a homopolymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized hydrophobic monomers; 
 P2 represents a homopolymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized hydrophilic monomers; 
 P3 represents a homopolymeric segment comprised of repeat units of monomeric residues of polymerized hydrophilic monomers; 
 q1 represents the number of repeat units in P1 and has a value between 1 and 50; 
 q2 represents the number of repeat units in P2 and has a value between 30 and 500; 
 q3 represents the number of repeat units in P3 and has a value between 30 and 500; 
 r represents the number of homopolymeric arms covalently attached to the Core; 
 t represents the number of copolymeric arms covalently attached to the Core; and 
 
       wherein the molar ratio of r to t is in the range of between 20:1 and 2:1. 
     
     
         2 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more star macromolecules have a molecular weight of between 150,000 g/mol and 600,000 g/mol. 
     
     
         3 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the sum total number of arms (r+t) is between 15 and 45. 
     
     
         4 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the molar ratio of r to t is in the range of between 8:1 and 3:1. 
     
     
         5 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein both q2 and q3 have a value greater than 100, and wherein q2 is greater than q3. 
     
     
         6 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the arms represented by [(P1) q1 -(P2) q2 ] have an HLB value greater than 18. 
     
     
         7 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the P1 homopolymeric segment is a hydrophobic homopolymeric segment having an HLB value of less than 7. 
     
     
         8 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the core comprises a hydrophobic crosslinked polymeric segment. 
     
     
         9 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the star macromolecule is a water soluble mikto star macromolecule. 
     
     
         10 . The star macromolecule of  claim 1 , wherein the star macromolecule, when dissolved in water at a concentration of at least 0.2 wt. %, forms a clear, homogeneous gel having a viscosity of at least 20,000 cP. 
     
     
         11 . A star macromolecule having a molecular weight of between 150,000 g/mol and 600,000 g/mol that forms a clear, homogeneous gel when dissolved in water at a concentration of at least 0.2 wt. %; 
       wherein the gel has:
 i) a dynamic viscosity of at least 20,000 cP; 
 ii) a salt-induced break value of at least 60%; 
 iii) a shear-thinning value of at least 10; and/or 
 iv) an emulsion value of greater than 12 hours. 
 
     
     
         12 . The star macromolecule of  claim 11 , wherein the gel-forming star macromolecule has a viscosity of greater than 40,000 cP at a pH between 6 to 11. 
     
     
         13 . The star macromolecule of  claim 11 , wherein the gel-forming star macromolecule has a viscosity of less than 5,000 cP at a shear rate of 4 sec −1 . 
     
     
         14 . The star macromolecule of  claim 11 , wherein the gel-forming star macromolecule has a PDI of less than 2.5. 
     
     
         15 . The star macromolecule of  claim 11 , wherein the gel-forming star macromolecule is a water-soluble mikto star macromolecule. 
     
     
         16 . The star macromolecule of  claim 11 , wherein the gel-forming star macromolecule has between 15 to 45 arms. 
     
     
         17 . The star macromolecule of  claim 11 , wherein the arms of the gel-forming star macromolecule comprise hydrophilic homopolymeric arms and copolymeric arms, comprising hydrophilic polymeric segments and hydrophobic polymeric segments. 
     
     
         18 . The star macromolecule of  claim 17 , wherein the arms of the gel-forming star macromolecule have an HLB of between 18 and 20. 
     
     
         19 . An emulsion comprising: 
       a water-soluble star macromolecule having:
 i) a molecular weight of at least 150,000 g/mol; and 
 ii) a dynamic viscosity of at least 20,000 cP at a concentration of 0.4 wt. %. 
 
     
     
         20 . The emulsion of  claim 19 , wherein the emulsion is an emulsifier-free emulsion.