WO2012175399A1

WO2012175399A1 - Washing or cleaning agent having increased cleaning performance

Info

Publication number: WO2012175399A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/061301
Authority: WO
Inventors: Inga Kerstin Vockenroth; Marc-Steffen Schiedel; Eva-Maria Wikker; Thomas Gerke
Original assignee: Henkel Ag & Co. Kgaa
Priority date: 2011-06-22
Filing date: 2012-06-14
Publication date: 2012-12-27
Also published as: EP2723843B1; DE102011078013A1; EP2723843A1; ES2611786T3

Abstract

The invention relates to a washing or cleaning agent having increased cleaning performance for greasy stains, wherein the washing or cleaning agent comprises at least one selected glycerol monoalykyl ether of the formula (I) in addition to a tenside, wherein the radical R stands for a branched C₈-C₁₄-alkyl chain.

Description

"Detergents or cleaning agents with increased cleaning performance"

The invention relates to a washing or cleaning agent with increased cleaning performance comprising surfactants. The invention also relates to the use and a method for producing such a washing or cleaning agent.

Surfactants are important components of detergents because they remove a variety of textile contaminants. In order to increase the cleaning power of detergents or cleaning agents on greasy stains, the washing or cleaning agents are added to further detergent-active substances. Thus, it is known from EP 2135930 A1 that monoalkyl ethers of lauryl alcohol and polyglycerols increase the detergency of the washing or cleaning agent. According to EP 2135930 A1, mixtures of said polyglycerol monoalkyl ethers having preferred degrees of polymerization of the glycerol of from 3 to 5 are used for washing at low temperatures. The use of mixtures of glycerols with different degrees of polymerization is necessary according to the teaching of EP 2135930 A1, since the pure glycerol ethers crystallize out at low temperatures and thus reduce the detergency of the composition. US Pat. No. 4,430,237 also discloses mixtures of polyglycerol monolauryl ethers for increasing the detergency of the washing or cleaning agent. In order to obtain agents with good fat-dissolving properties, it is essential according to US Pat. No. 4,430,237 to use mixtures of relatively large amounts of di- and triglycerol ethers with monoglycerol ethers.

The performance of detergents on greasy stains decreases when humidifying

Temperature dramatically. Thus, conventional detergents or cleansers do not or only insufficiently remove greasy soiling, especially at temperatures below the melting point of greasy soiling. Since washing at low temperatures is desirable for reasons of saving energy from the consumer's point of view, in these cases, often a little user-friendly pretreatment of greasy soiling is necessary. A solution of the stains by the wash is preferred by the consumer.

There is therefore still a need to improve the cleaning performance of detergents or cleaning agents on greasy stains.

An object of this invention, therefore, was to provide a laundry detergent or detergent having enhanced cleaning performance against greasy soils.

It has now surprisingly been found that selected glycerol monoalkyl ethers in surfactant-containing detergents or cleaning agents solve the above-mentioned problems particularly well. A first object of the present invention therefore comprises a washing or

Detergent comprising from 1 to 60% by weight of surfactants, wherein the agent further comprises at least one compound of the formula (I)

wherein the radical R is a branched C ₈ -C ₄ -alkyl chain,

contains.

Surprisingly, it has been found that by the presence of compound (s) of the formula (I), the cleaning performance of a detergent or cleaning agent to fatty

Stains can be increased. In addition, it has been shown by the

Presence of compound (s) of formula (I) can improve the cleaning performance of detergents on greasy soils at low temperatures, especially at temperatures below the melting point of the greasy soiling.

Preference is given to using one compound of the formula (I) separately or more than one compound of the formula (I) as a mixture.

The R radicals of the compound of the formula (I) may be mono- or polysubstituted on each carbon atom of the alkyl chain. Particularly preferably, the radical R of the compound of the formula (I) is simply branched.

Further preferably, the radical R of the compound of the formula (I) is branched at the second, third and / or fourth carbon atom from the ether group. Preferably, the ratio of carbon atoms in the longest alkyl chain to carbon atoms in the branch is between 4: 1 and 2: 1, more preferably 3: 1.

Preferred branched alkyl radicals R are ethyldodecyl, propylundecyl, methylethyl undecyl, ethyldecyl, propyldecyl, methylethyldecyl, diethyldecyl, ethylnonyl, propylnonyl, diethylnonyl, methylethylnonyl, ethyloctyl, propyloctyl, butyloctyl, diethyloctyl, dipropyloctyl, methylethyloctyl, methylheptyl, ethylheptyl, propylheptyl, butylheptyl, diethylheptyl, dipropylheptyl .

Methylethylheptyl, ethylhexyl, propylhexyl, butylhexyl, diethylhexyl, dipropylhexyl or

Methylethylhexyl, wherein the branches may emanate from one or more carbon atoms of the longest carbon chain. Particularly preferred are branched, especially single-branched, C ₈ alkyl chains. Even more preferred is a 2-ethylhexyl radical.

It is preferred to use those compounds of the formula (I) which are commercially available. In addition, liquid compounds of the formula (I) are preferred because they do not crystallize at low wash temperatures, can be incorporated well into the detergents or cleaners and give stable compositions. A particularly preferred compound of Formula (I) is therefore 3 - [(2-ethylhexyl) oxy] -propane-1,2-diol (INCI: ethylhexylglycerol), which is marketed under the tradename Sensiva® SC 50 by Schülke and Mayr.

An extraordinarily high cleaning performance on greasy stains comprises detergents or cleaners in which the compound (s) of the formula (I) are used in amounts of 0.5 to 10% by weight, particularly preferably 2 to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the agent is used.

It is further preferred that the washing or cleaning agent free of monoethers of

Polyglycerols is. Free of monoethers of polyglycerols in the context of the present invention means less than 0.5% by weight, preferably less than 0.3% by weight, more preferably less than 0.1% by weight and especially preferably less than 0, 05 wt .-% of monoethers of polyglycerols based on the total weight of the detergent or cleaner and less than 5 wt .-%, preferably less than 1 wt .-%, based on the total weight of the glycerol monoalkyl used.

It has been found that the combination of surfactants with compounds of the formula (I) leads to detergents or cleaners having a particularly high cleaning performance on greasy stains. As an essential ingredient, the washing or cleaning agent contains 1 to 60 wt .-% surfactants. Preferred surfactants are selected from the group consisting of anionic, nonionic, cationic and zwitterionic surfactants and mixtures thereof. From an application point of view, the washing or cleaning agent preferably contains nonionic and anionic surfactants.

To increase the cleaning performance, the washing or cleaning agent in a preferred embodiment contains at least one nonionic surfactant.

A particularly good cleaning performance of greasy stains have washing or cleaning agents in which nonionic (s) surfactant (s) in amounts of 2 to 12 wt .-%, particularly preferably from 3 to 10 wt .-% based on the total weight of Be used by means.

Particularly preferred are washing or cleaning agents, the nonionic (s) surfactant (s) and compound (s) of the formula (I) in a weight ratio between 9: 1 and 1: 9, preferably between 3: 1 and 1: 3, and in particular of 1: 1. Here, agents have proved to be particularly advantageous, the nonionic (s) surfactant and compound (s) of Fomel (I) in total from 4 to 12 wt .-% based on the total weight of the composition.

Suitable nonionic surfactants include alkoxylated fatty alcohols, alkoxylated

Fatty acid alkyl esters, fatty acid amides, alkyl polyglucosides, alkoxylated fatty acid amides, Polyhydroxy fatty acid amides, N-methylglucamides, alkylphenol polyglycol ethers and mixtures thereof.

The nonionic surfactants used are preferably alkoxylated, advantageously ethoxylated, in particular primary, alcohols having preferably 8 to 18 carbon atoms and on average 1 to 12 moles of ethylene oxide (EO) per mole of alcohol, in which the alcohol radical can be linear or preferably methyl-branched in the 2-position or linear and methyl-branched radicals in the mixture can contain, as they are usually present in Oxoalkoholresten. In particular, however, alcohol ethoxylates with linear radicals of alcohols of native origin having 12 to 18 carbon atoms, for example of coconut, palm, tallow or oleyl alcohol, and on average 2 to 8 EO per mole of alcohol are preferred. The preferred ethoxylated alcohols include, for example, C12-14-alcohols with 3 EO, 4 EO or 7 EO, _C9- n-alcohol with 7 EO, C-ms-alcohols with 3 EO, 5 EO, 7 EO or 8 EO, Ci ₂ -i8 alcohols with 3 EO, 5 EO or 7 EO and mixtures of these, such as

Mixtures of Ci ₂ -i4-alcohol with 3 EO and Ci ₂ -i8-alcohol with 7 EO. The specified

Levels of ethoxylation represent statistical averages, which may be an integer or a fractional number for a particular product. Preferred alcohol ethoxylates have a narrow homolog distribution (narrow rank ethoxylates, NRE). In addition to these nonionic surfactants, fatty alcohols with more than 12 EO can also be used. Examples include tallow fatty alcohol with 14 EO, 25 EO, 30 EO or 40 EO. Nonionic surfactants containing EO and PO groups together in the molecule can also be used according to the invention. Also suitable are also a mixture of a (more) branched ethoxylated fatty alcohol and an unbranched ethoxylated fatty alcohol, such as a mixture of a C16-18 fatty alcohol with 7 EO and 2-propylheptanol with 7 EO. Most preferably, the detergent or cleaning agent contains a C ₁₂ _ ₁₈ fatty alcohol with 7 EO, or C. ₁₃ ₁₅ -oxoalcohol with 7 EO as nonionic surfactant.

Preferred amine oxides are, for example, N-cocoalkyl-N, N-dimethylamine oxide, N-tallowalkyl-N, N-dihydroxyethylamine oxide, myristylcetyldimethylamine oxide or lauryldimethylamine oxide.

Alternatively or in addition to the nonionic surfactant (s), the washing or

Detergent also contain an anionic surfactant. The anionic surfactant used is preferably sulfonates, sulfates, alkyl phosphates, anionic silicone surfactants and mixtures thereof.

As surfactants of the sulfonate type preferably come C ₉ .i ₃ -Alkylbenzolsulfonate,

Olefinsulfonate, ie mixtures of alkene and hydroxyalkanesulfonates and disulfonates, as obtained for example from Ci ₂ _i ₈ monoolefins with terminal or internal double bond by sulfonation with gaseous sulfur trioxide and subsequent alkaline or acidic hydrolysis of the sulfonation, into consideration. Also suitable are Ci ₂ _i ₈ -Alkansulfonate and the Esters of α-sulfo fatty acids (ester sulfonates), for example the α-sulfonated methyl esters of hydrogenated coconut, palm kernel or tallow fatty acids.

Alk (en) ylsulfates are the alkali metal and in particular the sodium salts of

Sulfuric acid semi-esters of Ci ₂ -C ₈ fatty alcohols, for example from coconut fatty alcohol,

Tallow fatty alcohol, lauryl, myristyl, cetyl or stearyl alcohol or the Ci ₀ -C ₂ o-oxo alcohols and those half-esters of secondary alcohols of these chain lengths are preferred. Of washing technology interest, the C ₁₂ -C ₁₆ alkyl sulfates and C ₁₂ -C ₁₅ alkyl sulfates and C ₁₄ -C ₁₅ alkyl sulfates are preferred. 2,3-alkyl sulfates are also suitable anionic surfactants.

Also, the sulfuric acid monoesters of straight-chain or branched C ₇ ethoxylated with 1 to 6 moles of ethylene oxide. ₂ i-alcohols, such as 2-methyl-branched Cg-n-alcohols having on average 3.5 mol of ethylene oxide (EO) or Ci ₂ _i ₈ -Fettalkohole with 1 to 4 EO, are suitable.

The anionic surfactants including the fatty acid soaps may be in the form of their sodium, potassium or magnesium or ammonium salts. Preferably, the anionic surfactants are in the form of their sodium salts. Further preferred counterions for the anionic surfactants are also the protonated forms of choline, triethylamine, monoethanolamine (MEA), triethanolamine (TEA) or methylethylamine.

In addition to the essential ingredients, the washing or cleaning agent may contain other ingredients that further improve the performance and / or aesthetic properties of the detergent or cleaning agent. In the context of the present invention, the washing or cleaning agent preferably additionally contains one or more substances from the group of builders, bleaching agents, bleach catalysts, bleach activators, enzymes, electrolytes, nonaqueous solvents, pH adjusters, perfume compositions, perfume carriers,

Fluorescent agents, dyes, hydrotopes, foam inhibitors, silicone oils, soil release polymers, grayness inhibitors, shrinkage inhibitors, wrinkle inhibitors, dye transfer inhibitors, other antimicrobial agents, germicides, fungicides, antioxidants, preservatives, corrosion inhibitors, antistatic agents, bittering agents, ironing aids, repellents and impregnating agents, swelling agents and slip-resistant, softening components and UV absorbers.

Particularly preferred additional ingredients are builders, enzymes, electrolytes, nonaqueous solvents, pH adjusters, perfume compositions, fluorescers, dyes, hydrotopes, foam inhibitors, soil release polymers, grayness inhibitors, dye transfer inhibiting agents, plasticizing components, UV absorbers and mixtures thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, the inventive washing or

Detergents in liquid form and contain water as the main solvent. The invention also relates to the use of a washing or

Cleaning agent in the washing, cleaning and / or pretreatment of textile fabrics.

Furthermore, the invention also relates to the use of compounds of formula (I) in detergents or cleaners to increase the cleaning performance of the agent on fatty

Soils.

In particular, the invention also relates to the use of compounds of the formula (I) in detergents or cleaners for increasing the cleaning performance of the composition on greasy soils at temperatures between 15 ° C and 25 ° C, preferably at 20 ° C.

The preparation of a washing or cleaning agent according to the invention is carried out by means of customary and known methods and processes. Thus, for example, the ingredients of detergents, cleaners are simply mixed in stirred tanks, with water, the acidic

Components, if present, such as the alkylarylsulfonic acid, citric acid, boric acid, phosphonic acid, etc., the fatty alcohol ether sulfates, the nonionic surfactants and / or the compound (s) of formula (I) are conveniently presented. The nonaqueous solvents, if present, are preferably also added at this time, but the addition may be made at a later time. Subsequently, the fatty acid is added and the saponification of the fatty acid portion takes place at 50 to 60 ° C. Then the other ingredients, preferably in portions, are added.

Examples

Table 1 shows the composition of a comparative formulation V1 and the composition of a washing or cleaning agent E1 according to the invention (all amounts are given in% by weight of active compound, based on the total weight of the washing or cleaning agent):

Table 1: Detergent formulations

[1] Sensiva® SC 50 (ex Schülke & Mayr)

Machine Preparation of Stains: Cotton cloths of various stain types were prepared by spraying the stain on the cloth and then rubbing it with a sponge. The applied amount of soiling was chosen per type of patch so that a homogeneous, about 3 to 4 cm large spot was generated. Before washing, the pretreated cloth rags were stored for seven days at room temperature (aging).

In the washing tests, a household washing machine (Miele W 1514) was loaded with 3.5 kg accompanying laundry as well as the pretreated cloth rags (in each case about 100 stains of different and / or same type of stain per washing test). In addition, 80 g of the detergent to be tested (V1 or E1) were added and washed at 20 ° C. After hanging drying and mangling of the cloth rags their whiteness was determined spectrophotometrically (Minolta CR200-1). Each species was tested several times (6-fold determination). Table 2 shows the mean value from the measured values of the formulation E1 according to the invention as a difference from the mean value from the measured values recipe V1. "

Table 2: Whiteness

The results show the increased washing and cleaning performance of the compositions according to the invention on greasy soils. Particularly good results were on the fatty

Stains "Make up Sans Soucis 40 tanned beige", "Dust skin fat" and

"Lard (colored blue)" achieved.

In addition, the cleaning performance of the detergent formulations E1 and V1 was tested on 87 further soiling of the categories bleachable, enzymatically and / or surfactant. Comparable washing and cleaning performance of the detergent formulations E1 and V1 was achieved on all 87 soiled soils tested.

Claims

claims:

1. washing or cleaning agent comprising 1 to 60 wt .-% of surfactants, characterized in that the agent further comprises at least one compound of formula (I)

wherein the radical R is a branched C ₈ -C ₄ -alkyl chain,

contains.

2. Washing or cleaning agent according to claim 1, characterized in that the radical R of the compound of formula (I) is branched at the second, third and / or fourth carbon atom of the ether group.

3. washing or cleaning agent according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the radical R of the compound of formula (I) is a branched C ₈ alkyl chain.

4. Washing or cleaning agent according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the compound of formula (I) is 3 - [(2-ethylhexyl) oxy] propane-1,2-diol.

5. washing or cleaning agent according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it contains at least one nonionic surfactant.

6. washing or cleaning agent according to claim 5, characterized in that it

nonionic surfactant (s) and compound (s) of the formula (I) in a weight ratio between 9: 1 and 1: 9, preferably between 3: 1 and 1: 3, and in particular of 1: 1.

7. washing or cleaning agent according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the agent is free of monoethers of polyglycerols.

8. Use of a washing or cleaning agent according to one of claims 1 to 7 in the washing, cleaning and / or pretreatment of textile fabrics.

9. Use of at least one compound of the formula (I)

in detergents or cleaners to increase the cleaning performance of the agent on greasy soiling.

10. Use of a washing or cleaning agent according to claim 9 for increasing the cleaning performance of the agent to greasy soils at temperatures between 15 ° C and 25 ° C.