Liquid detergent composition in the form of lamellar droplets containing a deflocculating polymer

Claim 2

A liquid detergent composition comprising from 25% to 60% by weight of non-soap detergent active material and 1 to 60% by weight of electrolytes to form a dispersion of lamellar droplets in an aqueous continuous phase, the composition having a pH of less than 12.5 and yielding no more than 2% by volume phase separation when stored at 25° C. for 21 days from the time of preparation and further comprising from about 0.01 to about 5% by weight of a deflocculating polymer having a weight average molecular weight of from 500 to 500,000, wherein said deflocculating polymer comprises a combination of a hydrophillic backbone comprising monomer units selected from: a) one or more ethylenically unsaturated hydrophillic monomers selected from the group consisting of unsaturated C 1-6 acids, ethers, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones or esters; and/or b) one or more polymerizable hydrophillic cyclic monomer units; and/or c) one or more non-ethylenically unsaturated polymerizable hydrophillic monomers selected from the group consisting of glycerol and other polyhydric alcohols; wherein said polymer is optionally substituted with one or more amino, amine, amide, sulphonate, sulphate, phosphonate, hydroxy, carboxyl or oxide groups; and at least one hydrophobic side chain comprising monomers selected from siloxanes, saturated or unsaturated alkyl and hydrophobic alkoxygroups, aryl and aryl-alkyl groups, and mixtures thereof; with the proviso that said deflocculating polymer may not include partially esterified copolymers of maleic anhydride or substituted maleic anhydride.

Claim 3

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the polymer has the general formula (I) ##STR10## wherein: z is 1; (x+y): z is from 4:1 to 1,000:1; in which the monomer units may be in random order; y being from 0 up to a maximum equal to the value of x; and n is at least 1; R 1 represents --CO--O--, --O--, --O--CO--, --CH 2 --, --CO--NH-- or is absent; R 2 represents from 1 to 50 independently selected alkyleneoxy groups, or is absent, provided that when R 3 is absent and R 4 represents hydrogen or contains no more than 4 carbon atoms, then R 2 must contain an alkyleneoxy group with at least 3 carbon atoms; R 3 represents a phenylene linkage, or is absent; R 4 represents hydrogen or a C 1-24 alkyl or C 2-24 alkenyl group, with the provisos that a) when R 1 represents --O--CO--, R 2 and R 3 must be absent and R 4 must contain at least 5 carbon atoms; b) when R 2 is absent, R 4 is not hydrogen and when R 3 is absent, then R 4 must contain at least 5 carbon atoms; R 5 represents hydrogen or a group of formula --COOA 4 ; R 6 represents hydrogen or C 1-4 alkyl; and A 1 , A 2 , A 3 and A 4 are independently selected from hydrogen, alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, ammonium and amine bases and C 1-4 alkyl; or of formula (II): ##STR11## wherein: Q 2 is a molecular entity of formula (IIa): ##STR12## wherein z and R 1-6 are as defined for formula (I); A 1-4 , are as defined for formula (I) or (C 2 H 4 O) t H, wherein t is from 1-50, and wherein the monomer units may be in random order; Q 1 is a multifunctional monomer, allowing the branching of the polymer, wherein the monomers of the polymer may be connected to Q 1 in any direction, in any order, therewith possibly resulting in a branched polymer; n and z are as defined above; v=1 and (x+y+p+q+r): z is from 4:1 to 1,000:1, in which the monomer units may be in random order; R 7 and R 8 represent --CH 3 or --H; R 9 and R 10 represent independently selected groups selected from --SO 3 Na, --CO--O--C 2 H 4 --OSO 3 Na, --CO--O--NH--C(CH 3 ) 2 --SO 3 Na, --CO--NH 2 , --O--CO--CH 3 , --OH;

Claim 4

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the polymer is of formula III: ##STR13## wherein: x is from 4 to 1,000, n, z and R 1-6 are as defined in formula I, wherein the monomers units may be in random order; A 1 is as defined above for formula I, or --CO--CH 2 --C(OH)--CO 2 A 1 --CH 2 --CO 2 A 1 , or may be a branching point whereto other molecules of formula (III) are attached.

Claim 5

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the polymer has the formula VI: ##STR14## wherein: If z is the total of R 4 groups, then the ratio (x+y): z is from 4:1 to 1,000:1,; R 4 * is R 4 or --H; R 2 and R 4 are as defined above for formula I; and S is selected from --H, --COOA 1 , --CH 2 COOA 1 , --CH(COOA 1 ) 2 , (CH 2 COOA 1 ) 2 H, wherein A 1 is as defined for formula I or is R 4 ; with the proviso that at least one R 4 group is present as a side chain; or of formula (VII): ##STR15## Wherein: x, z, S and R 4 are as defined above for formula VI; and wherein at least one R 4 group is present as a side chain; v is 0 or 1.

Claim 6

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the average molecular weight of the polymer is from 500 to 500,000 as determined by gel permeation chromatography, using polyacrylate standards.

Claim 7

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the total amount of deflocculating polymer is from 0.01 to 5% by weight of the total composition.

Claim 8

A composition according to any of claim 1, wherein the deflocculating polymer has a specific viscosity less than 0.1 (1 g in 100 ml methylethylketone at 25° C.).

Claim 9

A composition according to claim 1 having a pH less than 11.

Claim 10

A composition according to claim 1, containing solid particles in suspension.

Claim 11

A composition according to claim 1, which yields less than 0.1% by volume visible phase separation after storage at 25° C. for 90 days from the time of preparation.

Claim 12

A composition according to claim 1, comprising at least 30% by weight of detergent active material.

Claim 13

A composition according to claim 1, having a viscosity of no greater than 1 Pas at a shear rate of 21s -1 .

Claim 14

A composition according to claim 1 comprising less than 45% by weight of water.

Claim 15

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the polymer is of the formula (IV) ##STR16## wherein: z, n and A 1 are as defined above for formula I; (x+y):z is from 4:1 to 1,000:1, wherein the monomers may be in random order; R 1 is as defined above for formula I, or can be --CH 2 --O--, --CH 2 --O--CO--, --NH--CO--; R 2-4 are as defined in formula I; R 11 represents --OH, --NH--CO--CH 3 , or --OSO 3 A 1 ; R12 represents --OH, --CH 2 OH, --CH 2 OSO 3 A 1 , COOA 1 , --CH 2 --OCH3; or of formula (V): ##STR17## wherein: z, n and R 1-6 are defined above for formula I; and x is as defined for formula III.

Claim 16

A composition according to claim 1, wherein the C 1-6 compound is a monomer selected from the group of monomers consisting of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, crotonic acid itaconic acid, aconitic acid, citraconic acid, vinyl-methyl ether, vinyl sulphonate, vinylalcohol obtained by the hydrolysis of vinyl acetate, acrolein, alkyl alcohol and vinyl acetic acid.