Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – Liquid composition
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-27
2001-12-04
Gupta, Yogendra N. (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
Liquid composition
C510S119000, C510S122000, C510S125000, C510S235000, C510S311000, C510S357000, C510S424000, C510S426000, C510S427000, C510S505000, C510S506000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06326348
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a detergent composition comprising a mid-chain branched surfactant and a bleaching agent, aluminosilicate and/or silicate builder, and/or detersive enzyme, preferably in granular form. More particularly, the invention is directed to detergent compositions containing a bleaching agent, aluminosilicate, silicate, and/or detersive enzyme and a selected mid-chain branched surfactant.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most conventional detergent compositions contain mixtures of various detersive surfactant components. Commonly encountered surfactant components include various anionic surfactants, especially the alkyl benzene sulfonates, alkyl sulfates, alkyl alkoxy sulfates and various nonionic surfactants, such as alkyl ethoxylates and alkylphenol ethoxylates. Surfactants have found use as detergent components capable of the removal of a wide variety of soils and stains. A consistent effort however is made by detergent manufacturers to improve detersive properties of detergent compositions by providing new and improved surfactants.
A problem commonly associated with anionic surfactants is their sensitivity to cold water and/or hard water. It is the surprising finding of the present invention that in comparison to known anionic surfactant components, the mid-chain branched surfactants utilized herein provide improved cleaning performance, especially for granular detergent compositions to be used under colder wash water conditions and/or in hard water. The cleaning results obtained by using these mid-chain branched surfactants in combination with bleaching agents are particularly desirable.
An advantage of the present invention is the improved cleaning performance, over a wide variety of soils and stains, of the detergent composition formulated with the mid-chain branched surfactants.
BACKGROUND ART
U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,556 to deWitt, et al., Nov. 25, 1969, EP 439,316, published by Lever Jul. 31, 1991, and EP 684,300, published by Lever Nov. 29, 1995, describe beta-branched alkyl sulfates. EP 439,316 describes certain laundry detergents containing a specific commercial C14/C15 branched primary alkyl sulfate, namely LUAL 145 sulfate. This is believed to have 61% branching in the 2-position; 30% of this involves branching with a hydrocarbon chain having four or more carbon atoms. U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,556 describes mixtures of from 10 to 90 parts of a straight chain primary alkyl sulfate and from 90 to 10 parts of a beta branched (2-position branched) primary alcohol sulfate of formula:
wherein the total number of carbon atoms ranges from 12 to 20 and R1 is a straight chain alkyl radical containing 9 to 17 carbon atoms and R
2
is a straight chain alkyl radical containing 1 to 9 carbon atoms (67% 2-methyl and 33% 2-ethyl branching is exemplified).
As noted hereinbefore, R. G. Laughlin in “The Aqueous Phase Behavior of Surfactants”, Academic Press, N.Y. (1994) p. 347 describes the observation that as branching moves away from the 2-alkyl position towards the center of the alkyl hydrophobe there is a lowering of Krafft temperatures. See also Finger et al., “Detergent alcohols—the effect of alcohol structure and molecular weight on surfactant properties”, J. Amer. Oil Chemists' Society, Vol. 44, p. 525 (1967) and Technical Bulletin, Shell Chemical Co., SC: 364-80.
EP 342,917 A, Unilever, published Nov. 23, 1989 describes laundry detergents containing a surfactant system in which the major anionic surfactant is an alkyl sulfate having an assertedly “wide range” of alkyl chain lengths (the experimental appears to involve mixing coconut and tallow chain length surfactants).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,823 and GB 1,399,966 describe other laundry compositions containing conventional alkyl sulfates.
G.B. Patent 1,299,966, Matheson et al., published Jul. 2, 1975, discloses a detergent composition in which the surfactant system is comprised of a mixture of sodium tallow alkyl sulfate and nonionic surfactants.
Methyl- substituted sulfates include the known “isostearyl” sulfates; these are typically mixtures of isomeric sulfates having a total of 18 carbon atoms. For example, EP 401,462 A, assigned to Henkel, published Dec. 12, 1990, describes certain isostearyl alcohols and ethoxylated isostearyl alcohols and their sulfation to produce the corresponding alkyl sulfates such as sodium isostearyl sulfate. See also K. R. Wormuth and S. Zushma, Langmuir, Vol. 7, (1991), pp 2048-2053 (technical studies on a number of branched alkyl sulfates, especially the “branched Guerbet” type); R. Varadaraj et al., J. Phys. Chem., Vol. 95, (1991), pp 1671-1676 (which describes the surface tensions of a variety of “linear Guerbet” and “branched Guerbet”—class surfactants including alkyl sulfates); Varadaraj et al., J. Colloid and Interface Sci., Vol. 140, (1990), pp 31-34 (relating to foaming data for surfactants which include C12 and C13 alkyl sulfates containing 3 and 4 methyl branches, respectively); and Varadaraj et al., Langmuir, Vol. 6 (1990), pp 1376-1378 (which describes the micropolarity of aqueous micellar solutions of surfactants including branched alkyl sulfates).
“Linear Guerbet” alcohols are available from Henkel, e.g., EUTANOL G-16.
Primary akyl sulfates derived from alcohols made by Oxo reaction on propylene or n-butylene oligomers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,072 assigned to Mobil Corp. See also: U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,989, assigned to Mobil Oil Corp. (a method for producing substantially linear hydrocarbons by oligomerizing a lower olefin at elevated temperatures with constrained intermediate pore siliceous acidic zeolite), and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,026,933 and 4,870,038, both to Mobil Oil Corp. (a process for producing substantially linear hydrocarbons by oligomerizing a lower olefin at elevated temperatures with siliceous acidic ZSM-23 zeolite).
See also: Surfactant Science Series, Marcel Dekker, N.Y. (various volumes include those entitled “Anionic Surfactants” and “Surfactant Biodegradation”, the latter by R. D. Swisher, Second Edition, publ. 1987 as Vol. 18; see especially p. 20-24 “Hydrophobic groups and their sources”; pp 28-29 “Alcohols”, pp 34-35 “Primary Alkyl Sulfates” and pp 35-36 “Secondary Alkyl Sulfates”); and literature on “higher” or “detergent” alcohols from which alkyl sulfates are typically made, including: CEH Marketing Research Report “Detergent Alcohols” by R. F. Modler et al., Chemical Economics Handbook, 1993, 609.5000-609.5002; Kirk Othmer's Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th Edition, Wiley, N.Y., 1991, “Alcohols, Higher Aliphatic” in Vol. 1, pp 865-913 and references therein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a bleaching detergent composition comprising:
a) from about 0.1% to about 50% by weight of a bleaching agent;
b) from about 0.1% to about 50% by weight of a mid-chain branched surfactant selected from the group consisting of surfactants having the formula:
A
b
—CH
2
—B
wherein:
(i) A
b
is a hydrophobic C9 to C22 (total carbons in the moiety), preferably from about C12 to about C18, mid-chain branched alkyl moiety having: (1) a longest linear carbon chain attached to the —X—B moiety in the range of from 8 to 21 carbon atoms; (2) one or more C
1
-C
3
alkyl moieties branching from this longest linear carbon chain; (3) at least one of the branching alkyl moieties is attached directly to a carbon of the longest linear carbon chain at a position within the range of position 2 carbon (counting from carbon #1 which is attached to the —X—B moiety) to position &ohgr;—2 carbon (the terminal carbon minus 2 carbons, i.e., the third carbon from the end of the longest linear carbon chain); and (4) the surfactant composition has an average total number of carbon atoms in the A
b
—X moiety in the above formula within the range of greater than 14.5 to about 17.5 (preferably from about 15 to about 17); and
(ii) B is a hydrophilic moiety selected from sulfates, polyoxyalkylene (such as polyoxyethylene and polyoxypropylene), and alkoxylated sulfates;
c) from about 0.1% to abou
Connor Daniel Stedman
Cripe Thomas Anthony
Foley Peter Robert
Vinson Phillip Kyle
Willman Kenneth William
Cook C. Brant
Gupta Yogendra N.
Robinson Ian S.
The Procter & Gamble Co.
Webb Gregory E.
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