Fabric softener composition

Claim 2

An aqueous fabric softener composition comprising: (A) from 1% to 50% by weight of the composition of a fabric softening active system wherein at least 10% of said active system is selected from the group consisting of di(higher alkyl) cyclic amines having the formula ##STR14## wherein n is 2 or 3, R 1 and R 2 are each selected from the group consisting of alkyl and alkenyl containing from 8 to 30 carbon atoms and mixtures thereof, Q is CH or N, X is R 4 or ##STR15## wherein R 4 is an alkylene group containing from 1 to 3 carbon atoms or is (C 2 H 4 O) m , m being an integer from 1 to 8, and T is O or NR 5 , R 5 being H or alkyl having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and (B) from 3% to 20% by weight of (A) of a soil release agent.

Claim 3

The aqueous fabric softening composition of claim 1 wherein the amount of soil release agent is from 5 to 15% by weight of the fabric softening active system.

Claim 4

An aqueous fabric softening composition according to claim 2 wherein the soil release agent is a polymer selected from the group consisting of the hydroxyether cellulosic polymers, copolymers of ethylene terephthalate and polyethylene oxide terephthalate, cationic guar gums, and mixtures thereof.

Claim 5

A composition according to claim 2 wherein the soil release agent is of formula: X--(OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2).sub.n (OR.sup.5).sub.m ][(A--R.sup.1 --A--R.sup.2).sub.u (A--R.sup.3 --A--R.sup.2).sub.v --A--R.sup.4 --A--(R.sup.5 O).sub.m (CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.n --X wherein the A moieties are essentially ##STR16## moieties; the R 1 moieties are essentially 1,4-phenylene moieties; the R 2 moieties are essentially ethylene moieties, or substituted ethylene moieties having C 1 -C 4 alkyl or alkoxy substituents; the R 3 moieties are substituted C 2 -C 18 hydrocarbylene moieties having at least one --O--(R 5 O) m (CH 2 CH 2 O) n --X or --A--(R 2 --A--R 4 --A)] w [(R 5 O) m (CH 2 CH 2 O) n ]X substituent or at least one moiety --A--(R 2 --A--R 4 --A)-- w R 2 --A-- crosslinked to another R 3 moiety; the R 4 moieties are R 1 or R 3 moieties, or a mixture thereof; each R 5 is C 3 -C 4 alkylene, or the moiety --R 2 --A--R 6 --, wherein R 6 is a C 1 -C 12 alkylene, alkenylene, arylene or alkarylene moiety; each X is H, C 1 -C 4 alkyl or ##STR17## wherein R 7 is C 1 -C 4 alkyl; m and n are numbers such that the moiety --(CH 2 CH 2 O)-- comprises at least about 50% by weight of the moiety --(R 5 O) m (CH 2 CH 2 O) n --, provided that when R 5 is the moiety --R 2 --A--R 6 --, m is 1; each n is at least about 6; u and v are numbers such that the sum of u+v is from about 3 to about 25; w is 0 or at least 1; and when w is at least 1, u, v and w are numbers such that the sum of u+v+w is from about 3 to about 25.

Claim 6

A composition according to claim 4 wherein the fabric softening active system comprises, in addition to the di(higher alkyl) cyclic amine, a conventional softening active compound selected from the group of quaternary ammonium salts having at least one acyclic aliphatic C 15 -C 22 hydrocarbon group.

Claim 7

A composition according to claim 5 wherein the quaternary ammonium salt is ditallowdimethylammonium chloride.

Claim 8

A composition according to claim 6 wherein the soil release agent is a compound of the formula ##STR18## wherein n averages about 16 and u is about 3 to about 5.

Claim 9

A composition according to claim 7 wherein the di(higher alkyl) cyclic amine is 1-tallowimidoethyl-2-tallowimidazoline.

Claim 10

A composition according to claim 5 wherein the softener active system comprises from 0.1% to 10% of a predominantly linear di(C 1 -C 5 ) alkyl or C 1 -C 5 alkylaryl siloxane in which the alkyl groups are partially or wholly fluorinated and which may be substituted with cationic nitrogen groups, the siloxane having a viscosity at 25° C. of at least 100 centistokes and up to 100,000 centistokes.

Claim 11

A composition according to claim 9 wherein the siloxane is a polydimethyl siloxane.

Claim 12

A composition according to claim 4 wherein the softener active system comprises: from 25% to 40% by weight of the softener active system of an acyclic quaternary ammonium salt of formula (II) herein; from 50% to 70% of a di(higher alkyl) cyclic amine of formula (I) herein; from 5% to 15% of a polydimethyl siloxane having a viscosity at 25° C. of at least 100 centistokes and up to 100,000 centistokes.