Alkali metal hypochlorite bleaching and cleaning compositions thickened with branch chain amine oxides

Claim 2

A cleaning or bleaching composition comprising water, from 1 to 20 percent by weight of an alkali metal hypochlorite, measured as available chlorine, and from 0.1 to 5 percent by weight of an amine oxide component comprising a branched amine oxide which contains a ##STR9## group, where R is a straight chain C 5 to C 17 alkyl group, R 1 is a C 1 to C 3 alkyl group and the group ##STR10## contains 8 to 20 carbon atoms, the amine oxide in toto having the formula: ##STR11## where R 2 and R 3 , which may be the same or different, are each alkyl groups containing up to six carbon atoms.

Claim 3

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the amine oxide component comprises a mixture of branched and straight chain amine oxides.

Claim 4

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the amine oxide component comprises a mixture of 40 to 60 wt% straight chain amine oxide and 60 to 40% branched chain amine oxide.

Claim 5

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the amine oxide component comprises a mixture of amine oxides of formula ##STR12##

Claim 6

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the amine oxide component comprises a mixture of compounds of different carbon number and of isomers containing straight chain and 2-alkyl branched chain alkyl groups.

Claim 7

A composition as claimed in claim 5 in which the amine oxide mixture comprises 65 to 75% C 13 and 35 to 25 wt% C 15 amine oxides with approximately 50 wt% straight chain and 50 wt% 2-alkyl branched chain where the 2-alkyl group is predominantly methyl.

Claim 8

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the alkali metal hypochlorite is selected from lithium, potassium and sodium hypochlorite.

Claim 9

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the composition contains up to about 0.23% by weight of the composition of an auxiliary thickening agent comprising an alkali metal salt of a C 8 to C 20 fatty acid.

Claim 10

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the composition contains from about 0.5 to about 2% by weight of the composition of a caustic alkali.

Claim 11

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which R 1 is methyl.

Claim 12

A composition as claimed in claim 1 in which R 2 and R 3 are both methyl.

Claim 13

A cleaning or bleaching composition comprising: (1) from 1 to 20 percent by weight of the composition of an alkali metal hypochlorite, measured as available chlorine, (2) from 0.1 to 5 percent by weight of a mixture of 40 to 60 weight percent straight chain amine oxide and 60 to 40 weight percent branched chain amine oxide, the amine oxide containing a ##STR13## group, where R is a straight chain C 5 to C 17 alkyl group and R 1 is a C 1 to C 3 alkyl group, and the group ##STR14## contains 8 to 20 carbon atoms, the amine oxide in toto having the formula: ##STR15## where R 2 and R 3 , which may be the same or different, are each alkyl groups containing up to 6 carbon atoms, and (3) balance water.

Claim 14

A cleaning or bleaching composition comprising: (1) from 1 to 20 percent by weight of the composition of an alkali metal hypochlorite, measured as available chlorine, (2) from 0.1 to 5 percent by weight of a mixture of 40 to 60 weight percent straight chain amine oxide and 60 to 40 weight percent branched chain amine oxide, the amine oxide containing a ##STR13## group, where R is a straight chain C 5 to C 17 alkyl group and R 1 is a C 1 to C 3 alkyl group, and the group ##STR14## contains 8 to 20 carbon atoms, the amine oxide in toto having the formula: ##STR15## where R 2 and R 3 , which may be the same or different, are each alkyl groups containing up to 6 carbon atoms, and (3) balance water.

Claim 15

A composition as claimed in claim 12 in which R 1 , R 2 and R 3 of the branched chain amine oxide all are methyl.