Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-09
2003-05-27
Ogden, Necholus (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
For cleaning a specific substrate or removing a specific...
C510S156000, C510S424000, C510S426000, C510S428000, C510S492000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06569825
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to aqueous cleansing compositions. In particular, the invention is concerned with aqueous cleansing compositions suitable for cleaning human skin and hair, which comprise a combination of certain specific long-chain and short-chain surfactants. The compositions are not only very mild but also show an excellent lather performance.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
In the recent past it has become more and more important for consumers that aqueous cleansing compositions are high foaming as well as mild. These combined properties are especially useful if the cleansing compositions are to be topically applied to human skin and hair. Consequently, efforts have been made to provide washing products, such as hair shampoos, shower gels and facial wash foams, showing these two properties. The major problem to provide such products resides in the fact that both properties tend to be mutually incompatible. While high lathering surfactants are generally very harsh, mild surfactants tend to give insufficient lather.
In the past attempts have been made to overcome these problems by combining harsh surfactants generating sufficient lather with very mild co-surfactants.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,447 (C J Patterson) discloses hair shampoo compositions containing fatty acid lactylates or glycolates while the cleaning actions of these shampoos is satisfactory the foam remains minimal. In order to achieve higher foaming action it is described to incorporate booster surfactants, such as sodium lauryl sulphate or triethanol amine lauryl sulphate, in the shampoo compositions. However, these booster surfactants are causing a high degree of irritancy when applied on human skin.
WO 91/09923 describes compositions comprising an ultra mild surfactant and a foam enhancer. The ultra mild surfactant is an alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonate (AGS) which has a hydrophobic group containing a linear alkyl chain containing from about 7 to 9 carbon atoms. Conventional foam boosters such as amine oxides and water soluble halide salts are added to improve lather creaminess, volume and stability.
EP-A-224 796 (Kao) describes a detergent composition comprising (a) a phosphate surfactant and (b) an acyl lactylate having an acyl group containing 12 to 18 carbon atoms. Specific examples for such combinations are mixtures of lauryl phosphate and stearoyl lactylate, isostearoyl lactylate and lauroyl lactylate, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,279 (Eastman Kodak) discloses shaving cream formulations comprising salts of C
14
-C
22
acyl lactylates, saturated monoglycerides, propylene glycol monoesters and humectants.
It has now been discovered that a combination of specific short-chain surfactants with specific long-chain surfactants provides mild cleansing compositions with the added attribute that by using these compositions a high degree of lather is generated. Unexpectedly, these properties have been achieved by combining very mild surfactants, which on application on their own give unsatisfactory lather in terns of foam volume. The synergistic effect obtained by combining the specific short-chain and the specific long-chain surfactant is described later herein.
DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the invention provides an aqueous cleansing composition, which comprises:
(a) a short-chain anionic surfactant chosen from C
6
-C
9
alkyl ether sulphates, C
8
-C
11
acyl lactylates, C
6
-C
9
acyl methyl taurates, C
6
-C
9
acyl isethionates, C
6
-C
11
fatty acid soaps. C
6
-C
9
alkyl sulphates, C
6
-C
11
acyl sarcosinates, C
6
-C
9
alkyl sulphosuccinates, C
6
-C
9
alkyl ether sulphosuccinates, or mixtures thereof;
(b) a long-chain anionic surfactant chosen from C
13
-C
18
alkyl ether sulphates, C
13
-C
18
acyl lactylates, C
13
-C
16
acyl methyl taurates, C
13
-C
15
acyl isethionates, C
13
-C
16
alkyl sulphates, C
13
-C
16
acyl sarcosinates, C
13
-C
16
alkyl sulphosuccinates, C
13
-C
16
alkyl ether sulphosuccinates, or mixtures thereof;
(c) optionally, a medium-chain anionic surfactant chosen from C
10
-C
12
alkyl ether sulphates, C
12
acyl lactylates, C
10
-C
12
acyl methyl taurates, C
10
-C
12
acyl sethionates, C
10
-C
12
alkyl sulphates, C
12
acyl sarcosinates, C
10
-C
12
alkyl sulphosuccinates, C
10
-C
12
alkyl ether sulphosuccinates, or mixtures thereof,
(d) water;
wherein
(i) at least one of the surfactants (a) and (b) is selected from the group consisting of the acyl lactylates, the acyl sarcosinates, the acyl methyl taurates, the alkyl ether sulphates and the acyl isethionates; or the short-chain anionic surfactant (a) is a C
6
-C
11
fatty acid soap;
(ii) if surfactant (c) is present, then the surfactants (a), (b) and (c) are present in an amount such that the weight ratio of (c):[(a)+(b)] is less than 1:1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Short-chain anionic surfactant (a)
The aqueous cleansing composition according to the invention comprises from 0.1 to 36% by weight of a short-chain surfactant chosen from C
6
-C
9
alkyl ether sulphates, C
8
-C
11
acyl lactylates, C
6
-C
9
acyl methyl taurates, C
6
-C
9
acyl isethionates, C
6
-C
11
fatty acid soaps, C
6
-C
9
alkyl sulphates, C
6
-C
11
acyl sarcosinates, C
6
-C
9
alkyl sulphosuccinates, C
6
-C
9
alkyl ether sulphosuccinates, or mixtures thereof.
It is preferred to use the short-chain anionic surfactant (a) in amounts of from 0.5 to 20% preferably from 1 to 10% by weight in the cleansing composition according to the invention.
Long-chain anionic surfactant (b)
The aqueous cleansing composition according to the invention comprises from 0.1 to 36% by weight of a long-chain surfactant chosen from chosen from C
13
-C
18
alkyl ether sulphates, C
13
-C
18
acyl lactylates, C
13
-C
16
acyl methyl taurates, C
13
-C
15
acyl isethionates, C
13
-C
16
alkyl sulphates, C
13
-C
16
acyl sarcosinates, C
13
-C
16
alkyl sulphosuccinates, C
13
-C
16
alkyl ether sulphosuccinates, or mixtures thereof.
It is preferred to use the long-chain anionic surfactant (b) in amounts of from 0.5 to 20%, preferably from 1 to 10%, by weight in the cleansing composition.
Combination of short-chain surfactants (a) and long-chain surfactants (b)
The aforementioned short-chain surfactants and long-chain surfactants are combined in such a way so that at least one is chosen from the group consisting of the acyl lactylates, the acyl sarcosinates, the acyl methyl taurates, the alkyl ether sulphates, the acyl isethionates and the C
6
-C
11
fatty acid soaps, as specified above.
This means that:
a C
6
-C
9
alkyl ether sulphate is present as short chain surfactant or a C
13
-C
18
alkyl ether sulphate is present as long chain surfactant, or:
a C
8
-C
11
acyl lactylate is present as short-chain surfactant or a C
13
-C
18
acyl lactylate is present as long-chain surfactant, or:
a C
6
-C
9
acyl methyl taurate is present as short chain surfactant or a C
11
-C
16
acyl methyl taurate is present as long chain surfactant, or:
a C
6
-C
9
acyl isethionate is present as short chain surfactant or a C
13
-C
15
acyl isethionate is present as long chain surfactant, or:
a C
6
-C
11
acyl sarcosinate is present as short chain surfactant or a C
13
-C
16
acyl sarcosinate is present as long chain surfactant; or
a C
6
-C
11
fatty acid soap is present as short chain surfactant.
Surprisingly, it is not essential for the purposes of the invention that both types of surfactants, long and short-chain, are chosen from the same homologous series of surfactants.
The weight ratio of the short-chain surfactant (a) to the long chain surfactant (b) is preferably in the range of 1:10 to 10:1, more preferably 1:3 to 6:1 and most preferably 1:1 to 3:1.
Medium-chain anionic surfactant
The cleansing composition according to the invention optionally comprises a medium-chain anionic surfactant (c) chosen from C
10
-C
12
alkyl ether sulphates, C
12
acyl lactylates, C
10
-C
12
acyl methyl taurates, C
10
-C
12
acyl isethionates, C
10
-C
12
alkyl sulphates, C
12
acyl sarcosinates, C
10
-C
12
alkyl sulphosuccinates, C
10
-C
12
alkyl et
Helene Curtis Inc.
Honig Milton L.
Ogden Necholus
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