Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces – auxiliary compositions – Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing – Specific organic component
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-24
2003-09-09
Gupta, Yogendra N. (Department: 1751)
Cleaning compositions for solid surfaces, auxiliary compositions
Cleaning compositions or processes of preparing
Specific organic component
C510S199000, C510S437000, C510S488000, C510S491000, C424S405000, C427S004000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06617301
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to surfactant mixtures used as wetting agents and/or as emulsifiers in agrochemical preparations, particularly in pesticide compositions.
STATE OF THE ART
The pesticide active ingredients—according to the characteristics of the actives and of their intended applications—can be formulated as dusts, wettable powders, dispersible granules, suspension concentrates, emulsifiable concentrates, emulsions and concentrated solutions, and their application as formulated products on soil, seeds or plant foliage is generally carried out with aqueous spray in form of solution, suspension or emulsion.
Surfactants are commonly used in order to disperse and suspend the solid substances, or to emulsify the oily liquids in water, forming suspensions or stable emulsions. The surfactants help the formation of aqueous dispersions of compounds insoluble in water. Moreover the surfactants reduce the surface tension between aqueous spray and the material (soil, seeds, foliage) to be treated, thus favouring the spreading of droplets on the treated surface and the penetration of the active ingredient into the materials.
Among surfactants, which can be used for the aforementioned purposes, the aliphatic polyglucosides have been known for a long time. These materials offer several advantages due to their low toxicity and good biodegradability, and even have certain fungicide, insecticide, and acaricide activities. Due to these features, the organic polyglucosides provide, in agrochemical formulations and applications, a wider spectrum of functions, since other equivalent traditional surfactants are normally used only as wetting agents and/or emulsifiers.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,325 describes pesticide compositions that contain alkylglucosides, alone or in combination with other surfactants. However, such compositions show weak wetting performance and cannot sufficiently reduce the interfacial tension between the aqueous spray and the material on which said spray is applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,750 describes the use of aliphatic polyglucosides as co-adjuvant in pesticide formulations in combination with fatty alcohol. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,750 the addition of fatty alcohol to the alkylpolyglucosides increases its wetting performance, favouring the penetration of the pesticide active ingredient into biological materials, even when the treated surface layers are waxy or oily as in the case of foliage.
On the other hand, the presence of a fatty alcohol creates considerable drawbacks: it gives bad odours and causes a noticeable lowering of the emulsifying ability of the alkylpolyglucosides.
Therefore, it is still an unresolved problem to obtain compositions based on aliphatic polyglucosides having better wetting properties, maintaining good emulsifying characteristics, without the drawbacks experienced with the known products as described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Now the Applicant has found that the use, as wetting agent and/or emulsifier, of a mixture comprising at least an alkylpolyglucoside, at least an anionic derivative of an alkylpolyglucoside and at least an anionic derivative of a fatty alcohol, in suitable weight ratio, has unexpected advantages in the application of agrochemical preparations on soil, seeds and plants, particularly when aqueous sprays of pesticide formulations are used.
These surfactant mixtures show the required efficacy in the formation of stable systems with water and organic substances and, moreover, they increase the penetration of the pesticide active ingredient into biological materials, due to a superior wetting power as compared to that of aliphatic polyglucosides used alone.
Additionally, the substances contained in the present mixtures are quickly biodegradable and satisfy the request of low toxicity for the mammals and low irritating effect in contact with the epidermis, thus being suitable for the use in pesticide preparations to be applied on edible plants; the mixtures of the present invention are indeed free of harmful or toxic by-products, like amines, ethylene oxide, 1,4-dioxane, alkyl phenols, etc.
Therefore the subject of the present invention is a surfactant mixture suitable for the use as wetting agent and/or emulsifier in pesticide agrochemical compositions, characterised by comprising:
A) at least an alkylpolyglucoside,
B) at least an anionic derivative of an alkylpolyglucoside, and
C) at least an anionic derivative of a fatty alcohol.
Further subjects of the present invention are the aqueous compositions of pesticides comprising such surfactant mixture, and their use in agriculture for the treatment of seeds, plants and soil.
The characteristics and the advantages of the surfactant mixtures according to the present invention will be illustrated in detail in the following description.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present surfactant mixture comprises at least an alkylpolyglucoside, at least an anionic derivative of an alkylpolyglucoside and at least an anionic derivative of a fatty alcohol.
Examples of alkylpolyglucosides, according to the aim of the present invention are the aliphatic alkylpolyglucosides represented by the following formula (I)
R—O—(G)
x
(I)
where:
R is a saturated or unsaturated aliphatic group having from 6 to 20 carbon atoms, linear or branched;
O is an oxygen atom;
G is a residue of a reducing saccharide connected to R—O by means of an ethereal O-glycosidical bond;
x is a number from 1 to 10, representing the average degree of oligomerization of G.
Preferably R is an alkyl group having from 8 to 16 atoms of carbon, G is a residue of a reducing saccharide and x is a number between 1 and 2.
The preferred alkylpolyglucosides, according to the invention, are compounds of formula (I) in which G is a residue of glucose.
The compounds of formula (I) are known, as well as their methods of preparation, and are for instance described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,219,656, 3,547,828 and 3,839,318.
Preferred compounds of formula (I) reported above are commercially available products and are endowed with an high biodegradability.
Examples of anionic derivatives of alkylpolyglucosides according to the aim of the present invention are compounds represented by the following formula (II)
[R′—O—(G)
x
]
n
—(D)
y
(II)
where:
R′ is a aliphatic group, saturated or unsaturated, linear or branched, having from 6 to 20 atoms of carbon, preferably from 8 to 16 atoms of carbon;
G is a residue of a reducing saccharide, preferably of glucose, connected to R′—O by means of an ethereal O-glycosidical bond;
O is an oxygen atom;
D is an acyl residue connected to an oxygen atom of the residue G, and derived from a bicarboxylic acid or a polycarboxylic acid having an aliphatic chain from 2 to 8 carbon atoms, linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, not substituted or substituted with one or more hydroxyl groups, and in which at least one carboxylic group is salified or in acid form;
n is a number between 1 and m−1, where m is the number of carboxylic groups in the acid that originates D;
x has the same meaning as described above for the compounds of formula (I);
y is a number from 1 to 10 representing the degree of average esterification of (G)
x
.
Preferred anionic derivatives of alkylpolyglucosides according to the present invention, are compounds of formula (II), in which R′ is an alkyl group having from 8 to 16 atoms of carbon and D is the acyl residue of a carboxylic acid selected from the group consisting of citric acid, tartaric acid, maleic acid and malic acid.
The above mentioned anionic derivatives of alkylpolyglucosides of formula (II) are known and they can be prepared as described, for example, in EP 258 814, or in EP 510 564.
Examples of anionic derivatives of fatty alcohols according to the present invention are represented by the following formula (III)
R″—O—D′ (III)
and they can be prepared by esterification of a carboxylic acid with a fatty alcohol of formula R″—OH, where:
R&P
Bohus Peter
Colombo Alberto
Fornara Dario
Abelman ,Frayne & Schwab
Gupta Yogendra N.
Lamberti S.p.A.
Mruk Brian P.
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