Peracid and bleach activator compounds and use thereof in cleaning compositions

A bleach activator compound of the formula

• [RX].sub.m AL
• wherein R is hydrocarbyl, selected from the group consisting of optionally substituted, linear and branched C.sub.6 -C.sub.20 alkyl and alkenyl and C.sub.6 -C.sub.20 alkyl-substituted aryl;
• or alkoxylated hydrocarbyl;
• X is selected from the group consisting of O, SO.sub.2, N(R').sub.2, P(R').sub.2, (R')P.fwdarw.O and (R')N.fwdarw.O;
• m is either 1 or 2;
• and wherein for m=1, A is selected from the group consisting of ##STR8## where x is an integer from 0 to 4;
• z is an integer from 0 to 2;
• (R') is alkyl and R" is branched-chain alkylene and wherein for m=2, A is ##STR9## and wherein L is a leaving group selected from the group consisting of:
• ##STR10## wherein x is an integer from 0 to 8,
• Z is H, R.sub.2 or halide,
• R.sub.2 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl, and
• Y is selected from
• --SO.sub.3 M
• --OSO.sub.3 M
• 13 CO.sub.2 M
• --N.sup.+ (R.sub.2).sub.3 Q.sup.-
• --N(R.sub.2).sub.2 .fwdarw.O
• wherein M is H, alkali metal, alkaline earth metal, ammonium or substituted ammonium and Q is halide or methosulphate.