Polyamine alcohols as microbiocides

Abstract

A series of microbicides which show 1- and 24-hour kill, 48-hour inhibition, and satisfactory simulated cooling tower inhibition against microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae prevalent in aqueous systems. The compounds are (2-hydroxy R) polyamines produced by reacting an R substituted alkylene oxide utilized in 1-2 mole quantities and reacted with a molar amount of an alkylene polyamine. The R substituent on the alkylene oxide is preferably alkyl where the chain length may be C.sub.6 -C.sub.20 as in epoxy alkanes, which may be straight or branched, saturated or unsaturated. The R substituent may also be aryl, aralkyl, or alkaryl, such as styrene oxide. The compounds are known as mono and bis (2-hydroxy R) polyamines depending upon whether 1 or 2 moles of the alkylene oxide are utilized. Protection in simulated cooling tower operation is achieved by dosages ranging as low as 1 ppm with an effective dosage range of 1-100 ppm. These compounds may be present as mixtures due to different points of possible attachment of the hydroxy R moiety to the amine, as, for example, in diethylene triamine, but the primary amine groups are favored for reaction. Additionally, these polyamine alcohols may be further modified by cyano- or haloethylation to introduce a cyanoethyl or haloethyl group at one or more of the remaining available nitrogens, and these products exhibit similar activity against microorganisms.