BRANCHED COPOLYMERS, COMPOSITION AND USES

The present invention relates to a branched copolymer obtainable by an addition polymerisation process and uses and compositions thereof comprising a hydrophilic component, said polymer comprising: i) a residue of at least one monofunctional monomer comprising one polymerisable double bond per molecule and a molecular weight of less than 1000 Daltons; ii) a residue of at least one multifunctional monomer comprising at least two polymerisable double bonds per molecule and a molecular weight of less than 1000 Daltons; and wherein the end termini of the copolymer chains comprise one or more of a residue of a chain transfer agent; an initiator or a terminal group derived from a termination reaction; wherein; the molar ratio of the monofunctional monomer to multifunctional monomer is between 50:1 to 2.5:1 respectively; and wherein the hydrophilic component is comprised solely of at least 1 mole % of one or more monofunctional monomer which is/are comprised of hydrophilic monomer each with a solubility of 0.18 w/w % in water at 20° C.; and wherein the residue of the at least one monofunctional monomer with a molecular weight of less than 1000 daltons is selected from the group comprising: vinyl acids, vinyl acid ester, vinyl aryl compounds, vinyl acid anhydrides, vinyl amides, vinyl ethers, vinyl amines, vinyl aryl amines, vinyl nitriles, vinyl ketones, and derivatives thereof; hydroxyl-containing monomers and monomers which can be post-reacted to form hydroxyl groups; acid-containing or acid functional monomers; zwitterionic monomers; quaternised amino monomers, oligomeric monomers; and corresponding allyl monomers of the aforesaid vinyl monomers.