Carbodiimides having carboxyl or Caboxylatgruppen

The invention relates to compounds with carbodiimide units and carboxyl or carboxylate groups (compound V) derived from a) aliphatic or araliphatic C4 to C20 polyisocyanates (component a), b) aminocarboxylic acids or aminocarboxylic acid salts (component b), c) optionally further compounds with groups capable of reacting with isocyanate groups in an addition reaction (component c) and d) optionally other isocyanates (component d), whereby the carbodiimide units are exclusively derived from the isocyanate groups of the components a).