Compositions: coating or plastic – Coating or plastic compositions – Marking
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-29
2004-01-27
Klemanski, Helene (Department: 1755)
Compositions: coating or plastic
Coating or plastic compositions
Marking
C106S031430, C106S031480, C106S031330
Reexamination Certificate
active
06682590
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink composition for ink jet recording excellent in image fastness and stability, and an image formation method using the ink composition.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the recent spread of computers, ink-jet printers have been widely utilized for printing paper, film, cloth and the like, not only in offices, but also in homes. As ink-jet recording ink, there are known water-based ink, oil-based ink and solid ink. However, the water-based ink is mainly used in terms of production, handling, odors and safety.
In many cases, however, the water-based ink has the advantages of high transparency and color density, but the disadvantage of poor water resistance, which causes blurring (bleeding) on printing on so-called plain paper, resulting in significantly deteriorated printing quality, because watersoluble dyes soluble in the molecular state are used. Further, the water-based ink also has the disadvantage of very poor light resistance.
For overcoming the above-mentioned disadvantages, water-based ink using pigments or disperse dyes has variously been reported, for example, in JP-A-56-157468 (the term “JP-A” as used herein means an “unexamined published Japanese patent application”), JP-A-4-18468, JP-A-10-110126 and JP-A-10-195355. These methods improve the water resistance, but are insufficient. In particular, pigment ink has the disadvantages of being inferior to dye ink in color development and being liable to clog nozzles because of lack of storage stability of dispersions.
Further, JP-A-58-45272 proposes a method of involving a dye in urethane polymer latex particles. However, this method has the disadvantage that it is difficult to obtain colored particles excellent in dispersion stability when the dye is involved in a desired concentration. Furthermore, JP-A-10-279873 discloses a method of preparing fine colored polymer particles by dissolving an acrylic polymer and an oil-soluble dye in an organic solvent, and removing the organic solvent after dispersing. However, this method has raised problems with regard to the quality of recorded images, particularly the quality of images recorded on paper media for photographic quality, and stability in continuous recording.
On the other hand, JP-B-5-76977 (the term “JP-B” as used herein means an “examined Japanese patent publication”) discloses an ink composition in which an oil-soluble dye is dissolved and dispersed in an organic solvent. However, it has become clear that the organic solvents defined herein are generally insufficient in compatibility with the oil-soluble dyes, so that the recording density is low, resulting in precipitation of the dyes during storage to cause clogging of nozzles according to circumstances.
Further, the oil-soluble dyes disclosed are insufficient in color reproduction based on insufficient color hues, and the storage stability of images obtained is also insufficient For improving the storage stability, JP-A-1-170674 discloses ink jet recording solutions containing UV absorbers and/or antioxidants. However, they can not be said to be sufficient in respect to light resistance.
As a means for allowing water resistance to be compatible with color development and image keeping quality, an ink composition is conceivable in which an oil-soluble dye and a fading inhibitor are dispersed in an aqueous medium. In this case, for preventing the dye from being precipitated, securing the storage stability and ejecting stability of the ink composition, and obtaining higher recorded image quality, it is necessary to reduce the average particle size of colored particles. However, the image keeping quality tends to deteriorate under such conditions. A technique has therefore been desired in which the image quality and the water resistance are compatible with the image keeping quality, regardless of the average particle size of the colored particles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide an ink composition for ink jet recording excellent in image quality, water resistance and image fastness.
According to the invention, there are provided:
(1) An ink composition comprising: an aqueous medium; a high boiling organic solvent dispersed in the aqueous medium; an oil-soluble dye dissolved in the high boiling organic solvent; and a compound represented by the following formula (I):
wherein R
101
and R
102
each independently represents one of a hydrogen atom, an aliphatic group, an aromatic group, a heterocyclic group, an acyl group, an aliphatic oxycarbonyl group, an aromatic oxycarbonyl group, an aliphatic sulfonyl group, an aromatic sulfonyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted carbamoyl group and a substituted or unsubstituted thiocarbamoyl group; R
103
represents one of an aliphatic group, an aromatic group, an aliphatic oxy group, an aromatic oxy group, an aliphatic thio group, an aromatic thio group, an acyloxy group, an aliphatic oxycarbonyloxy group, an aromatic oxycarbonyloxy group, a substituted or unsubstituted amino group, a heterocyclic group and a hydroxyl group; and R
101
and R
102
, R
102
and R
103
, and R
103
and R
101
may each combine with each other to form one of 5-, 6- and 7-membered ring, excluding the case a 2,2,6,6-tetraalkylpiperidine skeleton is formed,
wherein the oil-soluble dye is represented by the following formula (II):
wherein X represents an electron attractive group having a Hammett substituent constant &sgr;
p
of at least 0.20; R
1
and R
2
each independently represents one of a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkenyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group and a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group; R
3
, R
4
, R
5
and R
6
each independently represents one of a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, a cycloalkyl group, an alkenyl group, an aralkyl group, an aryl group, a heterocyclic group, a cyano group, a hydroxyl group, a nitro group, an amino group, an alkylamino group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an amido group, an arylamino group, a ureido group, a sulfamoylamino group, an alkylthio group, an arylthio group, an alkoxycarbonylamino group, a sulfonamido group, a carbamoyl group, a sulfamoyl group, a sulfonyl group, an alkoxycarbonyl group, a heterocyclic oxy group, an azo group, an acyloxy group, a carbamoyloxy group, a silyloxy group, an aryloxycarbonyl group, an aryloxycarbonylamino group, an imido group, a heterocyclic thio group, a sulfinyl group, a phosphoryl group and an acyl group, which may each further have a substituent group; R
1
and R
2
, R
3
and R
1
, and Rd R
2
and R
5
may each combine with each other to form a ring; Y represents one of a secondary or tertiary alkyl group, and a substituted or unsubstituted aryl group; and A represents a group comprising a non-metallic atomic group necessary for forming a one of 5-, 6-, 7- and 8-membered ring, and the ring may be substituted, may be a saturated ring, and may have an unsaturated bond.
(2) The ink composition as described in (1), wherein A in the formula (II) is a group represented by one of the following formulae (2-1) to (2-9):
wherein Z
1
and Z
2
each independently represents one of a halogen atom, an alkyl group, a cycloalkyl group, an aralkyl group, an alkenyl group, an aryl group, a heterocyclic group, a cyano group, a hydroxyl group, a nitro group, an amino group, an alkylamino group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an amido group, an arylamino group, an ureido group, a sulfamoylamino group, an alkylthio group, an arylthio group, an alkoxycarbonylamino group, a sulfonamido group, a carbamoyl group, a sulfamoyl group, a sulfonyl group, an alkoxycarbonyl group, a heterocyclic oxy group, an azo group, an acyloxy group, a carbamoyloxy group, a silyloxy group, an aryloxycarbonyl group, an aryloxycarbonylamino group, an imido group, a heterocyclic thio group, a sulfinyl group, a phosphoryl group and an acyl group; Z
6
and Z
9
each independently represents one of N—R, an oxygen atom and a sulfur atom; and R, Z
3
, Z
4
, Z
5
, Z
7
, Z
8
,
Noro Masaki
Omatsu Tadashi
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Klemanski Helene
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