Fatty acid containing detergent compositions

Claim 1

1 . A detergent composition comprising: (a) from about 2% to about 60% by weight of an anionic synthetic surfactant; (b) from about 0.25% to about 12% by weight of a cosurfactant selected from the group consisting of: (i) quaternary ammonium surfactants having the formula: wherein R is an alkyl or alkyl benzyl group having from about 8 to about 18 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain; each R 3 is selected from the group consisting of -CH 2 CH 2 -, -CH 2 CH(CH 3 )-, -CH 2 CH(CH 2 OH)-, -CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 -, and mixtures thereof; each R 4 is selected from the group consisting of C 1-4 alkyl, C 1-4 hydroxyalkyl, benzyl, ring structures formed by joining the two R 4 groups, -CH 2 CHOHCHOHCOR 6 CHOHCH 2 OH wherein R 6 is any hexose or hexose polymer having a molecular weight up to about 1 ,000, and hydrogen when y is not 0; R 5 is the same as R 4 or is an alkyl chain wherein the total number of carbon atoms of R plus R 5 is not more than about 18; each y is from 0 to about 10 and the sum of the y values is from 0 to about 15; and X is any compatible anion; (ii) diquaternary ammonium surfactants having the formula: wherein R R R 4 , R 5 , y and X are as defined above; (iii) amine surfactants having the formula: wherein R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and y are as defined above; (iv) diamine surfactants having the formula: wherein R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and y are as defined above; (v) amine oxide surfactants having the formula: wherein R 2 , R 3 , R , R and y are as defined above; and (vi) di(amine oxide) surfactants havinq the formula: wherein R 2 , R 3 , R R and y are as defined above; and (c) from about 5% to about 40% by weight of a fatty acid containing from about 10 to about 22 carbon atoms; said composition having a molar ratio of the anionic synthetic surfactant to the cosurfactant of at least 1 and formulated to provide an initial pH of from about 6.0 to about 8.5 at a concentration of from about 0.1% to about 2% by weight in water at 20°C.