Claims
- 1. A polymer for use in an oral care composition which includes a monomer repeat unit containing an active material covalently bonded to a hydrolyzable side group of said monomer unit, and a spacer group positioned between the main chain of said polymer and said hydrolyzable side group, said polymer having a predetermined rate of aqueous hydrolysis to release said active material therefrom.
- 2. A polymer according to claim 1 which can release a portion of the active material during the time the polymer is presented in the mouth of the user, the rest of the polymer being made available for aqueous hydrolysis thereafter.
- 3. A polymer according to claim 1 wherein the spacer group is alkylene, alkyleneoxy, amino, anhydride, amino acid, carbonate or alkylene ester.
- 4. A polymer according to claim 1 wherein the side group is alkylene.
- 5. A polymer according to claim 3 wherein the spacer group is methylene.
- 6. A polymer according to claim 1 in which said monomer unit also includes a carboxylic group.
- 7. A polymer according to claim 6 in which both said side and carboxylic group are attached to the same carbon atom in the main polymer chain.
- 8. A polymer of claim 1 in which said active is present in the side monoester group of itaconic acid.
- 9. A polymer according to claim 1 wherein said active material is menthol, thymol, triclosan, an essential oil, or methyl salicylate.
- 10. A polymer according to claim 1 wherein said active material is menthol.
- 11. A polymer according to claim 1 which includes a comonomer.
- 12. A polymer according to claim 11 in which said comonomer is a water solubilizing comonomer.
- 13. A polymer according to claim 11 in which said comonomer is (meth)acrylic acid, itaconic acid, vinyl acetate, a maleate, a fumarate, vinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl caprolactam, methacrylic acid, vinyl amide, alkyl vinyl ether, maleic anhydride, vinyl sulphonic acid, dimethylaminopropyl methacrylic acid or dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide.
- 14. A water soluble copolymer comprising the polymer of claim 1 and a comonomer which has bioadhesive properties.
- 15. A polymer according to claim 7 in which the ester group containing the active can form a 5- or 6-membered anhydride ring with said carboxylic group in aqueous solution.
- 16. An oral care composition including the polymer of claims 1 or 11.
- 17. An oral care composition according to claim 16 which is a dentifrice, denture adhesive, buccal tape, mouthwash or strip, or chewing gum, in the form of a solution, gel, dispersion or strip.
- 18. An oral care composition according to claim 16 wherein said monomer unit is formed from itaconic anhydride or acid monomer.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. PATENTS
[0001] This application is related to U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,315,987 and 6,464,961, issued to the same applicant and assigned to the same assignee as herein.