Compositions: coating or plastic – Materials or ingredients – Pigment – filler – or aggregate compositions – e.g. – stone,...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-12
2002-04-09
Green, Anthony (Department: 1755)
Compositions: coating or plastic
Materials or ingredients
Pigment, filler, or aggregate compositions, e.g., stone,...
C106S412000, C106S413000, C106S031780, C430S108240, C524S088000, C540S140000, C540S141000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06368399
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
a) Field of the invention
This invention relates to composite pigments comprising copper phthalocyanine (hereinafter abbreviated as “CuPc”) and aluminum phthalocyanine (hereinafter abbreviated as “AlPc”), and also to coloring compositions and image recording substances, both of which make use of the composite pigments.
b) Description of the Related Art
CuPc pigment is one of excellent pigments having a vivid blue color tone and a variety of superb fastness, and has long been used as one of the three primary colors for process printing. In addition to conventional printing methods making use of printing plates, this pigment is also finding increasing utility as a coloring agent in various image recording methods led by electrophotographic recording, ink-jet recording and thermal transfer recording. In these recording methods, there is an increasing demand for a pigment having a bluish green color tone, as a substitute for CuPc pigment having a blue color, and also a vivid and transparent image recording substance making use of this pigment to achieve still better color reproducibility upon formation of pictures, images, marks or the like (hereinafter referred to as “pictures”).
A pigment of a bluish green color is generally prepared by mixing CuPc pigment with a chlorinated CuPc pigment. As an improved version of this mixed pigment, JP 5-263006 discloses a solid solution pigment of a bluish green color obtained from a high-chlorination CuPc pigment and a low-chlorination CuPc pigment. Further, JP 9-68607 discloses a medium-chlorination CuPc pigment of a bluish green color, which is available by adjusting, in the stage of synthesis of CuPc, the number of chlorine atoms to be bonded to CuPc.
Incidentally, another serious problem associated with use of a pigment is an impact which the use of the pigment gives on the global environment. From this viewpoint, the above-described CuPc-base bluish green pigments are not desired in that they all require as a premise use of a chlorinated CuPc pigment and contain chlorine atoms. From the standpoint of regulating use of heavy metals, there is also a move toward imposing a limitation on the use of CuPc-base pigments themselves, said CuPc-base pigments containing copper, heavy metal, in their structures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a novel composite pigment of a bluish green color, a novel coloring composition of a bluish green color and a novel image recording substance making use of the coloring composition, all of which can form vivid and transparent pictures and moreover, have given consideration to the environment.
With a view to resolving the above-described problems of bluish green pigments made primarily of such conventional chlorinated CuPc-base pigments and hence, to developing pigments, coloring compositions and image recording substances having similar excellent characteristic properties as such chlorinated CuPc-base pigments, the present inventors have proceeded with various research. As a result, it has been found that a mixed pigment or solid solution pigment comprising CuPc and AlPc, both of which are free of chlorine atoms, does not contain any chlorine atoms and as a whole pigment, contains copper only at a low level, and thus, does not destroy the environment, has a variety of excellent fastness, can form pictures having a vivid color tone, and is useful for various applications, especially as a coloring agent in image recording substances.
The above-described object can be achieved by the present invention which will hereinafter be described. Namely, the present invention provides a composite pigment of a bluish green color, comprising CuPc and AlPc (the term “composite pigment” may hereinafter be simply called “pigment”), a coloring composition making use of the pigment, and an image recording substance making use of the composition.
The bluish green composite pigment, bluish green coloring composition an bluish green image recording substances according to the present invention are vivid and transparent and moreover, have given consideration to the environment.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention will hereinafter be described in more detail based on certain embodiments of the present invention.
The pigment according to the present invention is characterized in that it comprises CuPc and AlPc. The coloring composition according to the present invention is characterized in that it contains at least a pigment and a resin and the pigment comprises CuPc and AlPc. Further, the image recording substance according to the present invention is characterized in that it contains the above-described pigment comprising CuPc and AlPc.
CuPc which is used in the present invention is by itself a known compound and practically contains no chlorine atom in its structure. On the other hand, AlPc which is also used in the present invention is also a known compound by itself, and in general, is produced, for example, by reacting phthalonitrile or 1,3-diiminoisoindoline in the presence of aluminum chloride in an organic solvent of high boiling point such as 1-chloronaphthalene or quinoline, although it is not intended to impose any particular limitation on its production process. Depending upon a difference in the synthesis process or the conversion method into the pigment, AlPc takes a structure such as chloro-AlPc, hydroxy-AlPc or AlPc dimer. It is common to use these AlPc compounds either singly or in combination. Use of AlPc dimer which is the best in a variety of fastness is preferred for the present invention, although AlPc is not limited to AlPc dimer in the present invention.
Examples of the process according to the present invention for the production of the composite pigment can include a process comprising mixing CuPc and AlPc, a process comprising concurrent synthesis of both of them, and a process comprising synthesizing one of the compounds in the presence of the other compound. Whichever process is used, a mixture or solid solution of CuPc and AlPc may be subjected to conversion into a pigment as needed. In the process comprising mixing of CuPc and AlPc out of the above-described processes, the mixture may be subjected to conversion into a pigment subsequent to the mixing, or CuPc and AlPc, both of which have been converted into pigments, may be mixed together. The mixing can be either before or after the conversion into pigments. Further, the mixing can be mixing of CuPc and AlPc in powder forms, mixing of them in water-wet press cake forms, or mixing of them in other forms. As a still further alternative, CuPc and AlPc may be mixed together in the course of production of the coloring composition according to the present invention. According to the above-described concurrent synthesis process, CuPc and AlPc are synthesized in the form of a mixture by using, as a metal source, a mixture of a copper salt and an aluminum salt at a desired ratio upon synthesizing the metal phthalocyanins by a process known to date. As an alternative, a mixture of CuPc and AlPc can also be obtained by synthesizing AlPc or CuPc in the presence of CuPc or AlPc.
The solid solution pigment, which comprises CuPc and AlPc and is useful in the practice of the present invention, can be obtained by a process in which CuPc and AlPc are dissolved in concentrated sulfuric acid or polyphosphoric acid and the thus-obtained solution is then poured into water to have a solid solution of CuPc and AlPc precipitated in the form of fine particles, a process (acid paste process) in which CuPc and AlPc are mixed with concentrated sulfuric acid or polyphosphoric acid to form a mixture of CuPc sulfate and AlPc sulfate and the mixture is then poured into water to have a solid solution of CuPc and AlPc precipitated in the form of fine particles, or a process in which CuPc and AlPc are together subjected to comminution into fine particles of their solid solution. It may be preferable to convert these fine particles of the solid solution into
Aoba Masahiko
Aoki Kazutaka
Kanbara Yukio
Nakajima Keiji
Takami Shotoku
Dainichiseika Color & Chemicals Mfg. Co. Ltd.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
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