# US 4,392,965 A · Laundry softener antistatic composition

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- Number: US 4,392,965 A
- Document ID: US4392965A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 06/320,169
- Filed: 1981-11-12
- Granted: 1983-07-12
- Earliest claimed: 1981-11-12
- Inventors: Fred E. Woodward; Alice P. Hudson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US4392965A

## CPC

- D06M 13/47: derived from heterocyclic compounds
- C11D 1/04: Carboxylic acids or salts thereof (soap C11D9/00)
- C11D 1/08: Polycarboxylic acids containing no nitrogen or sulfur
- C11D 1/62: Quaternary ammonium compounds
- C11D 3/001: {Softening compositions}
- C11D 3/2075: {Carboxylic acids-salts thereof}
- D06M 13/463: derived from monoamines
- D06M: TREATMENT, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE IN CLASS D06, OF FIBRES, THREADS, YARNS, FABRICS, FEATHERS OR FIBROUS GOODS MADE FROM SUCH MATERIALS
- C11D: DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS DETERGENTS; SOAP OR SOAP-MAKING; RESIN SOAPS; RECOVERY OF GLYCEROL

## Abstract

Softener-antistatic compositions which are effective when added to a laundry wash cycle are water insoluble organic salts of a corboxylate anion containing a hydrocarbyl moiety with at least 10 carbon atoms and a quaternary ammonium cation containing two hydrocarbyl moieties with at least 12 carbon atoms each.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A laundry softener-antistatic composition which is a water insoluble organic salt of carboxylate anions and quaternary ammonium cations of the structure ##STR10## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are straight or branched chain alkyl or alkenyl containing 12 to 22 carbon atoms and may be the same or different, and R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 are methyl, ethyl, or propyl; R.sub.5 is
(a) straight or branched chain alkyl or alkenyl containing 10 to 22 carbon atoms, or ##STR11## wherein n +m is about 7 to 19, or ##STR12## wherein R.sub.6 is straight or branched chain alkyl or alkenyl containing 10 to 26 carbon atoms; Y is O, NH, or S, and Z is --CH.dbd.CH--, --CH.sub.2 --CH.sub.2 --, ##STR13## wherein X is O or NH, R.sub.7 is straight or branched chain alkenyl or alkyl containing 8 to 18 carbon atoms, and R.sub.8 is straight or branched chain alkyl or alkenyl containing 10 to 22 carbon atoms; or ##STR14## wherein R.sub.9 is straight or branched chain alkyl or alkenyl containing 11 to 21 carbon atoms; R.sub.10 is methyl, ethyl, or propyl; and R.sub.5 is as described above.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The composition of claim 1 which contains a molar ratio of water insoluble carboxylate-quaternary ammonium salt to counterion salt of greater than about 4 to 1.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The composition of claim 2 which contains less than about 60% water.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The composition of claim 2 which contains no more than about 25% water.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The composition of claim 1 in which the carboxylate anion is C.sub.16 to C.sub.18 straight chain alkyl and the quaternary ammonium cation is di(C.sub.16 -C.sub.18 alky) dimethyl ammonium.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The composition of claim 1 in which the molar ratio of carboxylate anion to quaternary ammonium cation is from about 0.9:1 to about 1.2:1.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The composition of claim 1 in which the molar ratio of carboxylate anion to quaternary ammonium cation is about 1 to 1.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The composition of claim 1 in admixture with from about 10% to about 75% of one or more substances taken from the group consisting of:
a. Kaolin clays
b. Smectic clays
c. Amorphous silica
d. Zeolites.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The process of preparing the composition of claim 1 which consists essentially of
(i) intimately mixing in any order from about 50 to 90 parts of water with about 10 to 50 parts of
a. a salt of the carboxylate anion and a counter ion which is substantially ionized in water, and
b. a salt of the quaternary ammonium cation and a counter ion which is substantially ionized in water,
taken together, the molar ratio of a to b being from about 0.8 to 1.2,
(ii) allowing the mixture to stand at a sufficient temperature and for a sufficient period of time such that the insoluble ion pair of the carboxylate anion and the quaternary ammonium cation separates from the water phase in a form that is no more than about 60% water by weight, and contains no more than about 1 mole of the salt of the counter ions per 4 moles of the insoluble salt of the carboxylate anion and the quaternary ammonium cation, and
(iii) evaporating the water from the carboxylate-quaternary ammonium salt until it contains less than about 25% water.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The composition which is the product from the process of claim 9.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

A composition consisting of from about 90 to 100% of the insoluble organic salt of claim 1, and from about 0 to 10% water, which is in the physical form of particles of less than 500 microns in diameter.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

A detergent softener-antistat which consists essentially of from about 1% to about 25% of the composition of claim 11, and from about 75% to 99% of a powdered laundry detergent containing anionic, nonionic, or amphoteric surfactants or mixtures thereof and builder salts.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

In the process of washing clothes and then drying the clothes in a mechanical dryer the improvement which comprises adding before or during the washing step, the composition of claim 1.