Metal ligand containing bleaching compositions

Abstract

The invention provides a novel bleaching composition comprising: (a) an oxidatively stable bleach activator having the structure ##STR1## wherein Y.sub.1, Y.sub.3 and Y.sub.4 each represents a bridging group, i.e., zero, one, two or three carbon containing nodes for substitution, while Y.sub.2 is a bridging group of at least one carbon containing node for substitution, each said node containing a C(R), C(R.sub.1)(R.sub.2), or a C(R).sub.2 unit and each R substituent is the same or different from the remaining R substituents and is selected from the group consisting of H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, alkenyl, aryl, alkynyl, alkylaryl, halogen, alkoxy, or phenoxy, CH.sub.2 CF.sub.3, CF.sub.3 and combinations thereof, or form a substituted or unsubstituted benzene ring of which two carbon atoms in the ring form notes in the Y unit, or together with a paired R substituent bound to the same carbon atom form a cycloalkyl or cycloalkenyl ring, which may include an atom other than carbon, e.g., cyclopentyl or cyclohexyl; M is a transition metal with oxidation states of I, II, III, IV, V, or VI, or selected from Groups VIA, VIIA, VIII and IB; Q is any counterion which would balance the charge of the compound on a stoichiometric basis; L is any labile ligand; and (b) an effective amount of a source of peroxy compound.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.