Stable, isotropic liquid laundry detergents

Claim 1

A stable, liquid laundry detergent composition comprising: (A) from about 0.2 to about 3.0 weight percent of an anionic surfactant having the formula: R--(OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2).sub.m --OSO.sub.3.sup.- M.sup.+ I where R is C 12 -C 15 alkyl; m is an integer from 1 to 4 and M + is an alkali metal cation; (B) from about 3.8 to about 7 weight percent of a cationic surfactant having the formula: ##STR7## where R 1 and R 2 are lower-alkyl groups containing from 1 to 3 carbon atoms; R 3 is C 8 -C 16 alkyl; R 4 is C 8 -C 16 alkyl or benzyl and X - is a halide anion; (C) from about 7 to about 30 weight percent of a nonionic surfactant selected from the group consisting of a compound having the formula: ##STR8## where R 5 is C 8 -C 9 straight or branched chain alkyl and n is an integer from 5 to 13 and a compound having the formula R.sub.6 --(OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2).sub.n --OH IV where R 6 is C 9 -C 15 straight chain or secondary alkyl and n has the meanings given above; (D) from about 1 to about 6 weight percent of an alkali metal benzoate; and (E) water and wherein the stoichiometric ratio of the anionic:cationic surfactants is in the range from about 0.05:1 to about 0.3:1.