A sulfonated aromatic stain resist chemical consisting of the condensa
tion product of phenol sulfonic acid, dihydroxy diphenol sulfone, and
formaldehyde was separated by semi-prep scale reverse phase high press
ure liquid chromatography. Stain resistance activity was demonstrated
in only two of the ten fractions that were isolated, with very slight
activity in another two fractions. The active stain resist component i
s a low molecular weight condensation product of the sulfonic acid and
sulfone with the phenolic groups converted to alkyl aryl ethers. The
active component comprises only about 10% of the total weight of the s
tain resist chemical.