Sulfonated block polyesters useful as soil release agents in detergent compositions

Claim 1

A detergent composition which comprises: (a) from about 1 to about 75% by weight of a nonionic, anionic, ampholytic, zwitterionic, or cationic detergent surfactant, or mixture thereof; and (b) a soil release component which comprises an effective amount of a sulfonated soil release compound 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 ##STR27## moieties; the R 1 moieties are essentially 1,4-phenylene moieties; the R 2 moieties are essentially substituted ethylene moieties having C 1 -C 4 alkyl or alkoxy substituents, or are combinations thereof with ethylene moieties; the R 3 moieties are substituted C 2 -C 18 hydrocarbylene moieties having at least one --SO 3 M substituent; 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 M is H or a water-soluble cation; each X is H, C 1 -C 4 alkyl or ##STR28## 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 v is greater than 0 and 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.