Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Auxiliary compositions for cleaning – or processes of preparing – Textile softening or antistatic composition
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-20
2003-02-04
Hardee, John (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Auxiliary compositions for cleaning, or processes of preparing
Textile softening or antistatic composition
Reexamination Certificate
active
06514931
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to fabric softening compositions comprising a mixture of particular oily sugar derivatives and cationic fabric softening compounds as softening compounds. The compositions give good fabric softening performance and good re-wetability on fabric even at high anionic material carry over levels. The invention also relates to a method of treating clothes with these compositions.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART
Fabric softener compositions are well known in the art. However, a disadvantage associated with conventional fabric softeners is that although they increase the softness of a fabric they often simultaneously decrease its absorbency so that the ability of the fabric to take up water decreases. This is particularly disadvantageous with towels where the consumer requires the towel to be soft, and yet, have a high absorbency.
To overcome this problem it has been proposed to use fabric softening compositions comprising and oily sugar derivatives as softening compounds.
For example, WO 98/16538 (Unilever) discloses fabric softening compositions comprising liquid or soft solid derivatives of a cyclic polyol or a reduced saccharide which give good softening and retain absorbency of the fabric. Our co-pending UK patent application GB 9911437.3 discloses fabric softening compositions comprising liquid or soft solid derivatives of a cyclic polyol or a reduced saccharide, at least one anionic surfactant, and at least one cationic polymer.
Our co-pending UK patent application GB 9911434.0 discloses fabric softening compositions comprising liquid or soft solid derivatives of a cyclic polyol or a reduced saccharide having at least one unsaturated bond in the alkyl or alkenyl chains present, and a deposition aid and one or more antioxidants.
EP 0 380 406 (Colgate-Palmolive) discloses detergent compositions comprising a saccharide or reduced saccharide ester containing at least one fatty acid chain.
WO 95/00614 (Kao Corporation) discloses softening compositions comprising polyhydric alcohol esters and cationised cellulose.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,643 (Hüls) discloses aqueous fabric softeners comprising mono, di or tri fatty acid esters of certain nonionic surfactants (including esters of sucrose with degrees of esterification ranging from 1-4), and cationic protecting colloids.
WO 96/15213 (Henkel) discloses textile softening agents containing alkyl, alkenyl and/or acyl group containing sugar derivatives, which are solid after esterification, in combination with nonionic and cationic emulsifiers including cationic fabric softening compounds.
However to provide good deposition of the derivatives of a cyclic polyol or a reduced saccharide it is generally, necessary to include a deposition aid. cationic fabric softeners have been proposed for this use (see WO 98/16538 and GB 9911434.0 above). This may also be desirable to improve the appearance of the compositions. However, these, materials are particularly affected by even relatively low levels of anionic carry over from the wash liquor, and thus their effectiveness is frequently reduced. This is epecially problematic in countries where there is a high level of anionic carryover into the rinse step from the laundering step.
In case of moderate to high anionic carry over and/or for higher ratios of said derivative to said cationic softener (e.g. 55:45 and higher), the deposition of said derivative onto the fabric is reduced, typically resulting in reduced softening performance. This could be overcome by using more of the composition but this is undesirable on many grounds (e.g. environmental grounds and cost).
The present invention is directed toward overcoming the above-mentioned disadvantages, and in particular, to providing a composition that provides good softening of a fabric without simultaneously markedly decreasing absorbency across a range of anionic-carry over (from the wash) conditions and across a range of weight ratios of the derivatives of a cyclic polyol or a reduced saccharide to a cationic fabric softening compound.
It has been found that by the inclusion of a deposition aid comprising at least one nonionic surfactant and at least one cationic polymer in a weight ratio as described herein, the above effects are provided across a range of anionic carry over conditions and said weight ratios.
DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION
Thus according to one aspect of the invention there is provided a fabric softening composition comprising;
(i) one or more cationic fabric softening compound(s) having two or more alkyl or alkenyl chains each having an average chain length equal to, or greater than, C
8
, and
(ii) at least one oily sugar derivative which is a liquid or soft solid derivative of a cyclic polyol or of a reduced saccharide, said derivative resulting from 35 to 100% of the hydroxyl groups in said polyol or in said saccharide being esterified or etherified, and wherein, the derivative has two or more ester or ether groups independently attached to a C
8
-C
22
alkyl or alkenyl chain, and
(iii) a deposition aid comprising a mixture of one or more nonionic surfactant(s), and one or more one cationic polymer(s), and wherein the weight ratio of the nonionic surfactant to the cationic polymer is in the range 10:1 to 1:10.
According to a further aspect the present invention provides a method of treating fabric by applying thereto the above composition.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a fabric softening composition comprising certain oily sugar derivatives, a cationic fabric softening compound, a nonionic surfactant and a cationic polymer, and wherein the weight ratio of the nonionic surfactant to the cationic polymer is in the range 10:1 to 1:10.
(i) Oily Sugar Derivative
The oily sugar derivative is a liquid or soft solid derivative of a cyclic polyol or of a reduced saccharide, said derivative resulting from 35 to 100% of the hydroxyl groups in said polyol or in said saccharide being esterified or etherified. The derivative has two or more ester or ether groups independently attached to a C
8
-C
22
alkyl alkenyl chain.
The oily sugar derivatives of the invention are also referred to herein as “derivative-CP” and “derivative-RS” dependent upon whether the derivative is a product derived from a cyclic polyol or from a reduced saccharide starting material respectively.
Preferably the derivative-CP and derivative-RS contain 35% by weight tri or higher esters, e.g. at least 40%.
Preferably 35 to 85% most preferably 40 to 80%, even more preferably 45 to 75%, such as 45 to 70% of the hydroxyl groups in said cyclic polyol or in said reduced saccharide are esterified or etherified to produce the derivative-CP and derivative-RS respectively.
For the derivative-CP and derivative-RS, the tetra, penta etc prefixes only indicate the average degrees of esterification or etherification. The compounds exist as a mixture of materials ranging from the monoester to the fully esterified ester. It is the average-degree of esterification as determined by weight that is referred to herein.
The derivative-CP and derivative-RS used do not have substantial crystalline character at 20° C. Instead they are preferably in a liquid or soft solid state, as hereinbelow defined, at 20° C.
The starting cyclic polyol or reduced saccharide material is esterified or etherified with C
8
-C
22
alkyl or alkenyl chains to the appropriate extent of esterication or etherification so that the derivatives are in the requisite liquid or soft solid state. These chains may contain unsaturation, branching or mixed chain lengths.
Typically the derivative-CP or derivative-RS has 3 or more, preferably 4 or more, for example 3 to 8, e.g. 3 to 5, ester or ether groups or mixtures thereof. It is preferred if two or more of the ester or ether groups of the derivative-CF and derivative-RS are independently of one another attached to a C
8
to C
22
alkyl or alkenyl chain. The alkyl or alkenyl groups may be branched or linear carbon chains.
The derivative-CPs are preferred for use as the oily sugar derivative. Inositol is a pr
Grainger David Stephen
Green Andrew David
Mohammadi Mansur Sultan
Hardee John
Plotkin Ellen
Unilever Home & Personal Care USA , division of Conopco, Inc.
LandOfFree
Fabric softening compositions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Fabric softening compositions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Fabric softening compositions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3150274