Partial saponification and partial dehydrohalogenation of vinyl halidevinyl ester copolymers

Claim 1

A METHOD OF PARTIALLY SAPONIFYING AND PARTIALLY DEHYDROHALOGENATING A COPOLYMER OF VINYL CHLORIDE AND VINYL FATTY ACID ESTER CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 60% TO ABOUT 96% BY WEIGHT OF VINYL CHLORIDE COMPRISING FORMING A REACTION MIXTURE COMPRISING A SUSPENSION OF SAID COPOLYMER IN A LIQUID ORGANIC MEDIUM COMPRISING A LOWER ALPHATIC ALCOHOL CONTAINING FROM 1 TO 4 CARBON ATOMS, AND LESS THAN APPROXIMATELY 5% BY WEIGHT OF WATER, ANY ORGANIC SOLVENT PRESENT IN SAID LIQUID ORGANIC MEDIUM BEING IN AN AMOUNT INSUFFICIENT TO ALTER THE PARTICULATE ENTITY OF THE SUSPENDED COPOLYMER DURING REACTION, SAID LIQUID ORGANIC MEDIUM HAVING INCORPORATED THEREIN A STRONGLY BASIC MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDES, ALKALI METAL ALCOHOLATES AND QUATERNARY AMMONIUM HYDROXIDES, SAID REACTION MIXTURE CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 0.013 TO ABOUT 0.18 MOL POUNDS OF STRONGLY BASIC MATERIAL PER 100 POUNDS OF DISPERSED COPOLYMER, MAINTAINING SAID SUSPENSION AT A TEMPERATURE OF FROM ABOUT 60*C. TO ABOUT 80*C. TO CONVERT FROM 15-85% OF SAID VINYL ESTER TO VINYL ALCOHOL AND TO PROVIDE A CORRECTED IODINE NUMBER OF FROM 2.010 AND WASHING THE REACTION PRODUCT TO REMOVE OCCLUDED SALTS FROM SAID COPOLYMER.

Claim 2

A METHOD OF PARTIALLY SAPONIFYING AND PARTIALLY DEHYDROHALOGENATING A COPOLYMER OF VINYL CHLORIDE AND VINYL FATTY ACID ESTER CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 60% TO ABOUT 96% BY WEIGHT OF VINYL CHLORIDE COMPRISING FORMING A REACTION MIXTURE COMPRISING A SUSPENSION OF SAID COPOLYMER IN A LIQUID ORGANIC MEDIUM COMPRISING A LOWER ALPHATIC ALCOHOL CONTAINING FROM 1 TO 4 CARBON ATOMS, AND LESS THAN APPROXIMATELY 5% BY WEIGHT OF WATER, ANY ORGANIC SOLVENT PRESENT IN SAID LIQUID ORGANIC MEDIUM BEING IN AN AMOUNT INSUFFICIENT TO ALTER THE PARTICULATE ENTITY OF THE SUSPENDED COPOLYMER DURING REACTION, SAID LIQUID ORGANIC MEDIUM HAVING INCORPORATED THEREIN A STRONGLY BASIC MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDES, ALKALI METAL ALCOHOLATES AND QUATERNARY AMMONIUM HYDROXIDES, SAID REACTION MIXTURE CONTAINING FROM ABOUT 0.013 TO ABOUT 0.18 MOL POUNDS OF STRONGLY BASIC MATERIAL PER 100 POUNDS OF DISPERSED COPOLYMER, MAINTAINING SAID SUSPENSION AT A TEMPERATURE OF FROM ABOUT 60*C. TO ABOUT 80*C. TO CONVERT FROM 15-85% OF SAID VINYL ESTER TO VINYL ALCOHOL AND TO PROVIDE A CORRECTED IODINE NUMBER OF FROM 2.010 AND WASHING THE REACTION PRODUCT TO REMOVE OCCLUDED SALTS FROM SAID COPOLYMER.